Trinity
by CerberusCroft
Summary: Lara and Sam find themselves on a truly epic adventure, initiated by a world-wide secret organisation that was involved in Yamatai. Told from POV of Sam. Does not follow the official comics. (because they're so bad) Work in progress. Apologies for any spelling errors, but I have no one to proof read my material. Updates every other week. Chapter 7 up now.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

An Asian man wearing a black suit and red tie was sitting alone at a table for two. He was around the age of 50, had brown eyes and black hair. Well, what was left of his hair, anyway; he was balding. The restaurant was Chinese themed. Whilst every single table in the restaurant was taken, the sound level was quite pleasant. The soft buzzing of the people in the restaurant gave a nice and cozy touch. The man was slowly eating his shrimps. The East Asian tunes were very distinctive, almost cliché. He was seated next to the large window which looked down the street. He briefly looked outside. It was dark and it rained. He looked around the restaurant. Everyone seemed to have a good time with the people they shared their table with except for an older man and woman who silently ate their food, with a morbid look on their face. He wondered what they had gone through. Perhaps lost a family member. He could also look directly in the kitchen, where several men were preparing all the orders that the one waitress would pass on to them. Just one waitress. This looked like a good running restaurant in the middle of London, and yet, on a Saturday evening, they only had one waitress running around like mad. When the waitress noticed the man looking at her, she approached his table.  
"Could I get you anything else, sir?" she asked politely. She was an English girl, probably around 25, blonde hair and blue eyes. So far for the Chinese theme.  
"Yes, dear, you could." The man was sitting up straight and only slightly turned his head to the right while looking at her with a smile. "Another water with ice would be great, thank you."  
"Certainly, coming right up!" she smiled and turned around, almost with a twist. Admirably, she's serving 12 tables on her own and did not show a sign of stress.  
Another man had joined him at his table, but the Asian man did not look up at him, he instead turned to his shrimps. The little plate where he deposited the shrimp tails began filling up. The other, caucasian, man was wearing a black sweater and dark cargo pants.  
"She still lives in the mansion." the recently joined man said, with a British accent.  
"Congratulations." said the man with the red tie, still not looking up. "You're capable of doing something that anyone with half a brain and internet access is capable of doing."  
"And" the man with the black sweater continued, slightly frustrated at the other man's remark. "We've followed her around for a couple of days. She comes outside far more often than two months ago."  
"I've asked you to make an assessment of whether or not she's ready for first contact. Not publicly available information."  
"That's a hard assessment to make if you only allow us to follow her outside of her house now and then. If you let us bug her hou-..."  
"No." the man with the red tie interrupted him. He lowered his voice. "This is a very delicate situation, if she finds out we've been following her, everything is ruined."  
"Here you go, sir!" the waitress placed the water on the table, and then turned to the other man. "Could I get you anything?"  
Her smile quickly disappeared when the man with the red tie abruptly told her that he's fine and didn't need anything.  
"Okay, let me know if you need anything else." She walked away, almost offended.  
"She seems to participate in society somewhat normally nowadays. And I think that's as much of an assessment you're getting without looking into her life more." said the man with the black sweater.  
"What about her friend?"  
"Won't be an issue, she'll come along."  
The man with the red tie swallowed his last shrimp, put the tail on the now full little plate and used his handkerchief to clean his mouth. He looked up at the man.  
"Well then, I think it's time to begin."


	2. Speeding

**Speeding**

"I'm gay." She said."WHAT?" I yelled as I clamped the pillow I was holding. _No way.  
_"I have been for a long time, actually. I love you."  
"LARA!" I yelled again.  
"What, what?!" Lara poked her head around the corner to the living area all worried.  
"Jane is gay…" My yelling somehow turned into awestrucked whispering.  
"Huh?" Lara looked puzzled, but realised I was talking about the TV when my trembling finger pointed towards the reality soap serie that was playing on the screen. Lara sighed.  
"I can't believe you actually like those reality shows so much. Dinner in 10!" Lara walked back to the kitchen.  
"Far more interesting than reading old books all day!" I yelled still shackled in front of the TV.

It was six months since Yamatai and it seemed Lara and I went back to our college way of living. Only now we resided in a large manor. A very _very _large manor. The Croft Manor. Initially we wanted to move back to our apartment in downtown London, but after the ordeal on the island, it didn't feel right. It didn't feel safe. The walls around the Croft manor, including the guard at the gate, helped us sleep a little bit better at night. Lara said it had to do with having access to a library, the space to workout, the fact they could hire top of the line maids and all kinds of non-reasons. I knew that was nonsense and Lara was just worried about our safety. She just didn't want to admit it. Six months in and Lara had yet to hire a single maid and we now have a guard posted at the gate 24/7! Also, she never had any issues with our 2 bedroom apartment before. Not that I was complaining, I loved it. I loved the mansion; it's style, the size, the history behind it, _the space._ I felt pretty good. I wasn't sure about Lara, though. She spent a lot of her time in her study room and the library on the third floor, and while she didn't actually say it, she preferred not to be disturbed. In the first few months Lara sat there, studying notes, reading books and whatnot, I thought she starting planning her next adventure, following in her father's footsteps. On the boat back from Yamatai Lara had said she didn't want to go home yet, but here we were six months later. I'm just glad her daily routine doesn't exist of just working out and reading old books anymore, like it was the first month when we got back. We are gradually spending more time together, and spending more time outside. Although, going outside is pretty much limited to now getting groceries _ourselves _instead of having them delivered to the mansion.

Either way, I had mixed feelings about the fact Lara was finally opening up to me. I was really glad that she was finally sharing her feelings with me again for the first time since Yamatai, but it made me realise how fucked up she had gotten. She was paranoid, restless, scared, not to mention the nightmares. Jesus, the nightmares. Way too often would I wake up by the sound of Lara going down the stairs to the kitchen. I'd follow her and would find her with her face wet from tears and sweat. Lately, I convinced her to tell me about the nightmares now and then, because it might help. Seriously, those nightmares are fucking scary even though Lara was just telling me them. I wouldn't want to imagine actually dreaming them. I am pretty certain she has PTSD, that's how bad it is. But, obviously, no way she'll admit that. I tried getting her to talk to a professional, but she wouldn't and changed the subject every time. I just settled for the fact she's at least talking to me. And yet she is staying strong, always asking me if _I'm _alright, if nothing is bothering _me._ And I'd tell her I'm fine, because the truth is I _am _fine. Don't get me wrong, I am not untouched by what unfolded on the island, and I do get my fair share of nightmares, but not near as bad as Lara's. Mostly because I don't remember a whole lot of the scary parts. Most of what I can remember is being in the company of Mathias, and while I was scared shitless the entire time, he didn't try to maim and murder me. Well, except for the part where he almost burned me alive. But then Lara came, just in time. She didn't even save me at that time, but just seeing her gave me so much hope. Just a glimpse of her face, the knowledge that she was still fighting for me, was enough to keep going. God, I hope she'll be alright. I am most worried about her sleepless nights because she gets so tired.

Sometimes Lara also takes a drive in her new car late at night when she can't sleep. She was convinced we didn't need a brand new Audi RS6 with a roaring 4.0 V8 engine, all options included. When she wanted to finally buy a car two months back, she was interested in some truck from 90's, saying that's all they'd need. I had rolled my eyes. Millions at her disposal and she wants to buy a truck that barely holds together. Somehow, I still doesn't know how, I convinced Lara to come to the Audi dealer. I was _ecstatic _about the car, but after we finally bought it, I felt guilty. Normally, I'd feel victorious when I managed to persuade Lara to change her mind, since she'd rarely do so. But back then, I felt like Lara just agreed to it because she didn't feel like arguing with me. That's how it was the first couple of months. Lara acted so closed off and to herself. That would mean I made her buy a car against her will, and that thought haunted me for quite some time. Luckily, that feeling was thrown out the window the second Lara told her she'd bought her the exact same car, but in white instead of black, because it was _convenient._ Ah, what a lovely girl Lara is. My very best friend. My heroine. My.._Sam? Saaam?_

"Sam!" I awoke from my thoughts when Lara poked my ribs. She looked at the television. "There's commercials on! How is that even remotely interesting enough to ignore me? It's dinner time."  
"Sorry, _mom._" I said with a grin as I got up from the comfortable couch. "I was just lost in my thoughts."  
"What thoughts?" Lara asked as we made our way to the dining room ignoring my mom remark.  
"Nothing interesting, really." I smiled. "So! What are we having for dinner?"  
"Nothing interesting, really." Lara winked. Lara always winked with her mouth open. It was so super adorable.  
"Oh, ha-ha.".  
"Seriously, though. Is everything alright?" Lara asked.  
"Yeah, I'm good, sweetie, don't worry. Was just thinking about maybe taking a drive somewhere. Like, together."  
"Oh?" Lara diverted her look. "Where to?"  
"I don't know. Like a little trip somewhere. We could visit Jonah in Brighton? But this time, we'll stay in a hotel and enjoy the beach for a couple of days. It's summer, anyway. And I don't mean British summers, the sun is actually shining!" I tried to give her some familiarity with Jonah because she might be more inclined to go. Jonah had opened a fish restaurant in Brighton two months ago, and we've been there twice since then. It was called The Lobstah for crying out loud.  
"I dont know. I guess so."  
"C'mon, please? It'll be fun! We can have a few drinks, too, like old times!" I begged as we entered the dining room.  
Lara stopped in her tracks and looked at me for a few seconds. "Fine." She smiled. "Fine, let's go. But I'm driving."  
"Yes!" I hugged her. "And sure, you can drive the car we _really _don't need." I smirked while she gave me a look.  
I realised she made spaghetti bolognese when I took a seat at the large wooden table. Lara wasn't as good in cooking as I was, which meant that she rarely cooked at all. It didn't matter to me, the simple food she did make was absolutely delicious.  
"Oh, yumm!" I said as I filled my plate.  
"I know, I know, it's not as fancy as your usual cuisines. Still, I like it."  
"Oh, don't worry, sweetie. I love your kitchen skills. Besides, you're far better than me with other stuff. Like pretty much anything, come to think of it."  
"That's ridiculous. Like what?" She asked as she started scooping up the amount of spaghetti that would fill an average person's stomach twice.  
"Like eating like you're 300 pounds and still maintain a thin and toned body. Jesus Christ, Lara."  
"What? I like spaghetti." She said with half her mouth full. "Besides, it's okay. I climb mountains."  
We both laughed. It was true, though. Lara was so super badass.

I wouldn't be able to miss her from my life. Not just because she saved my life on the island. It was before Yamatai, as well. When we were in college, in our dorm. When we moved to our two bedroom apartment later on. She was always there for me, _always. _Now, don't get me wrong, I was there for her, as well, whenever she needed me, obviously. I'm just not entirely sure how she feels about me. Hell, I'm not even sure how _I_ feel about me.

"So, when are we going?" Lara asked after she somehow managed to clear her plate before me.  
"Well, nothing is stopping is. Plus, if we wait too long the sun will probably disappear for another twelve centuries. Let's go tomorrow?"  
"Sure. I'll call Jonah tonight, see if he's okay with it."  
"We're not staying at Jonah's, we're just visiting him and staying in our own hotel. Don't you dare cancel on me just because Jonah is too busy, Lara." I gave her a look.  
"I know, I know." Lara tried to look as innocent as possible. "I'll give him a call to see if he's okay meeting us within the next couple of days. That okay?"  
"Don't worry, Lara. It's August, school started again, holidays are over so it won't be too crowded on the beach. And if you get uncomf-..."  
"Yeah, I'll be fine." She interrupted me as she took both our plates to the kitchen. Lara wasn't too keen on going outside, let alone to crowded areas, after Yamatai. She wanted to know what was going on, who was near her, who might be a danger or not and her escape route. At _all_ times. Obviously, that gets difficult in a crowded area. Though, it was understandable after what she's been through.

I helped her clean the table and we sat on the couch with the laptop so we could look at some nice hotels in Brighton. I see her look at some quality hotels and praise myself once more that I convinced her it's okay to spend money from her fortune. We're living of her interest rate alone and than some.  
"That one is nice." I point at the screen after we've been through a dozen websites.  
She opens the page and we take a look at the photos.  
"Yeah." She smiles. "It is. I'll give Jonah a call." She gets up and hands me the laptop. "Can you book it?"  
Lara takes her phone from her pocket and taps the screen a few times before putting it to her ear and waited for Jonah to pick up.  
"Hey Jonah. How're you?" I could see she liked hearing his voice after she lit up. Besides the fact they were good friends, you create a special bond with people you share a trauma with.  
"Yeah, we're fine, too, thanks. Hey, listen, we were thinking abou-..." Her smile quickly disappeared when Jonah interrupted her.  
"What…?" She was now frowning and I was getting worried.  
"What, what is it?" I tried asking but she ignored me.  
"That's insane!" She continued. "That's just not possible."  
She looked at me and gestured for the laptop after she sat down next to me again. She held her phone between her shoulder and her ear and fired up Google. After a search term and a click or two she reached an article about Yamatai.

_**Archeologists find nothing worthwhile on suggested Yamatai-Koku island  
**__After a 2,5 months excavation of the island discovered by freelance treasure hunters, archeologists say that the rumour that the island was the host of the former "Sun queen" Himiko and her kingdom is false._

My mouth fell open.

_Lead archaeologist Harry Thompson says "In the past six months we have discovered several ruins on the island, which we can now confirm are in of no relation to Yamatai-Koku or Himiko and her kingdom. While we can understand why these treasure hunters initially had believes this to be Yamatai, we can now say with certainty that this is not the case."_

_The discovery of the island sparked the interest of archaeologists all around the world as it was believed to be Yamatai-Koku, the long lost kingdom of the Sun queen Himiko. The location of Yamatai-Koku has long been a debate between many scientists, historians and archaeologists. In 2009 an excavation started in Sakurai, Nara after the discovery of a large stilt-house which was believed to be in relation to Himiko. Thompson says that "our focus once again lies in Sakurai, Nara". _

Lara was now clicking through several websites to check sources, but they all reported the same thing. I was just staring at the screen which had turned into a black and white blur for me. How the hell was that possible? What purpose would it have to hide Yamatai? Could they even legally do that?  
"Yeah, no, I read it." Lara suddenly continued. It made me realise she would probably cancel our going away plans.  
"Listen, Sam and I are going to spend a few days in Brighton, perhaps we could drop by for a day?...Wednesday perhaps?...Okay, great, then we can also discuss this Yamatai thing." Thank God, we were still going. Lara hung up the phone and directed her attention to me. We just looked at each other for a while.  
"I don't know." I finally broke the silence.  
"Me neither." Lara looked at the laptop in her lap again. "We'll call Harry Thompson tomorrow. Come to think of it, I haven't heard from in a while. He used to call us frequently."  
She was right. Harry Thompson was the archaeologist leading the team on Yamatai, and we knew him. Well, Lara knew him because he was good friends with Lara her father when he was still alive. He had kept us up to date by calling us every other week, but we hadn't heard from him for about three weeks now.  
"I'm sure he has a reasonable explanation." Lara said, trying to rationalise the situation.  
"Pretty sure." I agreed with her.

After we had packed our bags for the next day, we spent the rest of the evening watching movies trying to divert our attention. Lara had become too impatient and had already tried calling Harry twice, but she got his voicemail, so she left him a message. I didn't pay much attention to the movies, I couldn't because my mind was somewhere else. Though, I was very glad I got to spend the evening with Lara on the couch cuddled up against each other.  
I was rudely awoken by a loud banging on my bedroom door. I look at my phone. Ugh, 8AM.  
"C'mon Sam, let's go." I heard Lara's voice from behind the door.  
"It's 8 in the morning! We don't have to go to college or anything!" I yelled back. I waited a couple of seconds waiting for what she had to say next, but there was only silence. Just when I thought I might've pissed her off Lara came barging in the door.  
"It was you who suggested this trip, Sam." Sometimes she can actually act like a mother. She walked to the large window on the side of my bed and pulled open the curtains.  
"Ah!" I screamed as I covered my eyes. "The light! It burns!"  
"Oh, please." Lara stood at the end of my bed with her hands on her hips.  
"Geez, since when are you so eager to go?" I said as I was still adjusting to the light.  
"Because you're right, it would be fun. So get dressed and let's go." Lara said.  
When my eyes finally adjusting so I could see properly I took a look at Lara.  
"Really?" I said as I sat upright in bed. "Jeans? It's summer and actually warm outside!"  
"What?" Lara replied as she took her hands off herself and looked down. "This is comfortable _and _looks good."  
Lara was wearing her usual black tank top, jeans and boots outfit. Mostly the only thing that ever changed was the color of the tank top, and the fact she sometimes wore cargo pants instead of jeans. Her hair seemed to never ever leave the state of ponytailness. She was right, though, it did look good on her. She had this tomboyish look going on, while still looking feminine. I have never seen a person who pulled the look off better than Lara did.  
"But sweetie, it's warm outside _and _you're beautiful. Show off your legs, show off your tummy, you can easily pull it off!" I said while thinking about the cute green summer dress I already knew I was putting on.  
"Pff, I have a huge scar on my stomach. Why would I want to bare that?" She was exaggerating, her wound actually healed really nicely. Obviously, still visible, though.  
"At least where those shorts I get you a while back?" I cannot recall the amount of times I tried to change Lara's outfit.  
"Maybe when we get there." Lara winked adorably. "Now, c'mon, let's go. I already made breakfast downstairs."  
It was really good to see Lara smiling, though I wasn't sure why that was. Either because she got to drive this beast of a car again, because she was outside on a trip or because she was hanging out with me. Hopefully, the latter. I looked at her driving. She looked like a real badass, sporting those aviator sunglasses while driving this car looking all focussed. I was almost disappointed the drive only took about 90 minutes. Probably less the way Lara was driving. You'd think a girl like Lara would drive according to the speed limit, right? No way. I casually looked at the speedometer and saw we were going almost 100 miles per hour. Not that I mind, though, I like the speed. Lara didn't like talking when she was driving, she made that pretty clear in the past. So I decided to take out my phone and play around with that. Maybe check for those articles that suggested Yamatai pretty much does not exist, I might find something useful in it. When I read a few articles, which pretty much suggested the exact same thing, I decided to check and update Facebook. I can't tag Lara in my status update, because surprise surprise, she doesn't use Facebook. Well, maybe that was for the best, she'd start asking questions about the stuff I liked on Facebook if she ever saw. I giggled.  
"Shit." Lara said suddenly. I looked at her and saw her looking in the rearview mirror, so I turned my head to look out the rear window. My heart sank; a cop car was driving behind us with the sign "Stop Police" lit.  
"Shit." I concurred. "How fast were you going."  
She looked at me with a worry on her face. "More than 130."  
My mouth fell open. "Jesus, Lara, really? That's a driving ban for sure." I couldn't believe this car drove so smooth I didn't even notice how fast we were going. "Fuck."  
"Yeah, you're going to have to do the driving from now on." Lara said as she took the exit to a petrol station. She parked the car in the designated area behind the building.  
"Why were you going so fast?! 130!" I almost hissed.  
To my utter surprise she smiled and said "Because it's fun." My mouth fell open. "Plus" She continued. "Road conditions were good, and the road was pretty much empty so. This car can go more than 180, you know?"  
"Yeah, you know what, let's not drive 180, okay? I'm glad you're having fun, though." I poked her ribs. I could see she was completely calm, while I was stressing out. And I didn't even do anything wrong. Lara has a way of doing that, staying completely calm when it matters. Fuck, she's a badass in so many different ways. Lara had rolled down the window when the police officer arrived next to her door.  
"That's a nice car you have here, Miss." The police officer says. The man was about 35 years old and actually looked quite handsome, and came about as a friendly person.  
"Thank you, officer."  
"Are you two girls in a hurry?" He asked.  
"No, sir." Lara replied.  
"Then why were you driving so fast?"  
"Well, I thought I was able to, the weather is nice and the road is empty." Lara tried to be as nice as possible to the officer, hoping to get off with perhaps just a huge fine. Or maybe he wasn't able to measure her speed yet?  
"Really?" The officer said as he quickly looked down at the notepad he was holding. "Because I saw this BMW M3 car driving pretty quickly, as well. It almost looked like you were racing him."  
"Lara!" I yelled as her cheeks got red. Busted.  
"R-really? Gee, uh, I-I didn't see that car, to be honest." Lara stammered.  
"Is that so?" He put his notepad away. "License and registration, please."  
"Officer, honestly, I-..."  
"License and registration, please." The officer interrupted her. She sighed for a second and then reached for the glovebox and her wallet.  
"Here you go." She handed her license and car registration papers to the officer.  
"I'll be right back, please stay in the car and don't start your engine." The office walked back to his own car parked behind ours.  
"That's probably the last time I see that license." She said as she turned to me.  
"That's all your own fault, missy." I said with an older women voice, pretending to be a mother figure.  
"Oh, thanks for the support, _mom._"  
"Don't worry sweetie, we have enough money. We'll pay the fine, wait a couple of days and you'll have it back in no time."  
"I don't like spending money on nonsense, you know that." She rested her forehead against the back of her hands which were on the steering wheel. "Fuck."  
I stroked the back of her head. "It's fine, Lara, and whosoever fault it is, you don't ever have to deal with something on your own, okay? Please know that. Even if it's a trivial matter."  
She pushed my hand away. "Driving at night is one of the few things that calm me down, okay? I _need _it." She sounded really annoyed now.  
"I'm sorry." I said softly. "Do you always drive that fast?" I asked hesitantly.  
"No. Just when I'm able to, and when I believe it's okay. I'll never break a speed limit except on the highway."  
"You never told me you were you go at night." I asked  
"I told you; driving."  
"Yeah, but where? Sometimes you're gone until the morning. I get worried."  
"I know, I'm sorry. I don't go anywhere specific. And don't worry I don't always go driving 150 miles per hour just because. I just drive around aimlessly. I love the lights flashing by in the dark. I also love the silence that comes with it."  
"With this engine?"  
She laughed. "I guess I meant the soothing sound the engine makes."  
I felt so bad for her, if these were one of the few things that calmed her down, we should do anything possible in order to prevent a driving ban. I thought about what I could do, but then the officer suddenly stood next to the car again.  
"Miss." The office directed his attention to me. "I'm going to need your license, as well as your passport. Lara and I frowned.  
"Why" I asked, probably just before Lara did.  
"Registration purposes." The officer replied calmly.  
"I wasn't even driving."  
"Please, Miss, I might be able to get your friend her off with a warning, but I'll need your license and passport." He looked at Lara. "And I'll need your passport, as well." We looked at each other puzzled for a few seconds, but if this guy could get Lara to get away with just a warning, we should just go with it. We both handed the necessary documents and the officer walked away again.  
"That's lucky." I said.  
"Yeah, and weird. Why would he need our passports, as well? It's lucky we're even carrying them on this trip."  
"He might be able to give you just a warning, so let's go with it." I claimed.  
"Let's hope so." Lara looked in the side mirror to check if he was coming back yet. "He's taking his time, though."  
"So, are we going to the beach straight away?" I asked trying to pass the time. I was getting a little uncomfortable in this chair, despite the fancy leather. I was afraid of leaving the car, though, since the officer told us not to.  
"Uhm, yes, can do. The hotel has a swimming pool, as well you know." She said looking down at the steering wheel.  
"Yes, but the beach has a sun, you know." I replied which made Lara smile.  
"Fine, fine."  
"Here you go, girls." The officer startled us both and I saw Lara make a grab for her gun, which wasn't on her belt. The officer looked puzzled but Lara pretended it didn't happen and took the documents from his hands.  
"So?" Lara asked half-hearted.  
"I'm going to let you go off with a warning if you promise to drive safely from now on."  
I could see Lara was ecstatic. "Of course, officer, thank you so much, officer. I promise I'll drive safe!" The officer quickly left and Lara hugged me in excitement.  
"Oh, thank God." I said after she let go of me. "Now, let's go to the hotel and change. I want to hit the beach already!"  
Lara laughed as she once again turned on the roaring monster in the engine compartment and drove off.


	3. TAFDI

**TAFDI**

When we arrived at the hotel and got out of the car, the valet parking boy gestured for the keys as another man took our bags from the car to the reception desk. Lara, however, ignored the valet parking boy.  
"Ma'am." He said as Lara got back in the driver seat after helping unloading the bags. "I'm going to need your keys, it's not allowed for guests to park themselves."  
"Well, _Sir._" She said sarcastically. "It seems you are in possession of your drivers license no longer than a couple of months." The boy did look very long, but that's mostly the case since they're so cheap. "Either you come sit in the passenger seat, or I'm parking it by myself, because no way you're getting behind the wheel." I laughed as the boy hesitated for a moment, and then got in the passengers seat. The look on his face was priceless. Honestly, normally Lara isn't so condescending to people, however it sometimes felt like she treated that car as a long lost, priceless artifact.  
"I'll see you inside." I said before I walked to the front door of the hotel. My flip-flops made a sound against the marble floor as I walked inside.  
"Croft." I said to the lady behind the desk as she asked what name I booked under. Lara joined me again just before I was about to make my way upstairs after having received our room keys.  
"Was it parked safely and alright?" I asked with a grin.  
"Did you see how young he was?" Lara pointed out.  
"And you have decades of driving experience?" I laughed  
"Which side are you on?" She poked my ribs.

Our hotel was directly adjacent to the beach and the enormous windows offered a spectacular view of the sea. We shared the large bedroom and the bathroom was amazing, with one of the biggest showers I've ever seen. Good, I _love _showers. After looking around some more we decided to get dressed for the beach, since it was a quarter past eleven, already. I was already curious if Lara was going to wear a bikini at all. She wasn't really the bikini wearing type, if you know what I mean. I never understood why. I mean, even after half a dozen scars she managed to collect on Yamatai, her body looked amazing. I'm not bad _myself_, if I say so myself, and I will never pass on the opportunity to wear a cute bikini. I guess Lara was just not that kind of person. As long as she didn't wear a hoodie and cargo pants to the beach, because that would just be embarrassing to be next to. Even though we were only staying a couple of days, I decided to pack all my 14 bikini's. That way, I could easily change my mind on what bikini to wear! I picked the lemon green one, put my green summer dress over it and went to the sitting area of our room. Lara was already waiting for me while playing with her phone. She was wearing swimming shorts to her knees and a t-shirt.  
"You ready?" She smiled.  
"I hope you're wearing a bikini under that, because you could use some sun, sweetie." I smirked.  
"Why are you so keen on seeing me as naked as possible?" She said, crossing her arms and raised her eyebrows.  
That startled me as I didn't expect the question.  
"Because you're so super hot, _duh._" _Take it as a joke, take it as a joke, take it as a joke.  
_She laughed, thank God. _What was wrong with me?  
_"Don't worry." She continued. "I'll get some sun. Let's go." Lara walked to the door and I followed her out.

I woke up after baking in the sun for a while and turned around so I was laying on my back. It was past noon and the sun was actually quite hot, even for my taste. I looked next to me at Lara laying on her back on her towel holding a book above her face. At least she took her t-shirt off, revealing something that was somewhere between a sports bra and bikini top. I decided not to comment on it since it was far more than I expected anyway.  
"I have no idea what you read all day long, every day. You're always up in that study room, reading books and notes and whatnot." I said.  
"You never ask." She didn't take her eyes of her book.  
"I know." I sighed. That was because I never wanted to bother her. "That's true. Anyway, I'm asking now. What are you reading?"  
She looked at me from above her sunglasses. "You don't have anything better to do or are you really interested?"  
"A little bit of both." I grinned.  
"Seeking safety." She said still looking at me.  
"Cool, what is it about?" I asked, honestly intrigued.  
"A treatment manual for PTSD." She said calmly while she turned her attention to the book again. I'm not sure how my face looked at that moment, because I was busy making sure my heart didn't pop out of my throat. A treatment manual for PTSD? How? Why? Why would she read that when she has me to talk to? Was that because I wasn't there for her? Or at least made that clear? I wasn't sure how I suppose to feel, but I did feel like the worst "best friend" in the whole fucking world right now, _shit_. And how come she has spontaneously accepted she has PTSD? Hell, does she even has PTSD? I'm taking too long to answer her. _Say something.  
_"Oh." I managed to blurt out. _WAS THAT IT?!_ _Say something more, you idiot._ "Do you always read that kind of books?"  
"Not really." She said, still as calm as ever. "Just… recently, actually. This is the first one on the subject."  
"Well, why did you start reading them?" I got up and sat on my knees next to her. Lara put the book away.  
"I don't know. Perhaps I have PTSD, perhaps I don't. Just educating myself, I guess."  
"Okay, and?" How can she be so calm about this? How is this not groundbreaking for her?  
"I don't know yet, Sam, I'm just reading. I called a specialist last month and he said I showed some signs. Obviously, he can't be sure from just a single phone call. He invited me for a first session."  
Really?" How much stuff isn't she telling me?  
"Yeah, I didn't visit him." She sighed deeply. "I declined."  
"Why? You probably have PTSD!" I almost yelled.  
"Why?" She got up and leaned on her elbows. "Why does everyone just assume I have PTSD? You know those soldiers that come back from war, those people that go through stuff far worse than what I saw? You think they _all _have PTSD?"  
"Well, no, bu-..."  
"Exactly, just because I went through some fucked up stuff doesn't mean by default I have PTSD. I might have, yes. I might not. That doesn't mean that it has to be shoved down my throat every single time we talk about it. I'll figure it out, okay?"  
"Sweetie, we barely ever talk about it…" I said feeling more guilty every second. I've been a horrible _horrible_ friend, haven't I? "Do you talk to someone else about  
it?"  
"No." She laid back down and picked up her book again. "Just stop talking about PTSD okay? I'm getting annoyed just hearing that term. PTSD, PTSD, _God, _just stop it. I might be fucked up, but I'm not sick."  
"Sweetie, I don't want you to do thi-..." I was interrupted by Lara getting up faster than I could blink my eyes. She reached for something in the air, which made me gasp and fall onto my back in the sand. She opened her palm and there was a beach tennis ball in it. Judging from the look on her face it would've probably hit me or her in the face if she didn't heroically intercept it.  
"Sorry, sorry, my apologies!" A guy in swimming shorts came running in our direction. He had a slight German accent. "I truly am sorry!" He said as he kneeled next to Lara. He had blue eyes and blond hair that reached just below his ears. He was actually quite handsome. Lara sat up straight and handed him his beach tennis ball back.  
"Again, I truly am sorry." He smiled.  
"It's fine, don't worry about it." I said, before Lara might've decided to murder him.  
"You two girls don't look fine, to be honest. Let me make it up to you! We're having a campfire going tonight at the beach. You two girls want to come?"  
_Yes! _I thought. It'd be fun _and _good for Lara to meet some people_. _I looked at Lara with puppy eyes.  
"Sorry." The guy said before we could answer. "Where are my manners? My name is Felix." And he shook Lara her hand. "And I promise this isn't some lousy pick up line." He laughed as he shook mine. "My girlfriend is right there." As he pointed to a group of people in the distance.  
"We'll come!" I practically yelled.  
"Great. It's at 9, but come and go as you please. The beach isn't ours, obviously. Oh, and there's booze!" He got up, waved, and went back to his group.  
"It'll be fun." I said turning to Lara before she could say anything.  
"Oh, please. I'm not going." She said as she went back to her book.  
"C'mon, it'll be good for you. We can make some new friends and stuff. Let's talk about it over lunch, it's almost 2, let's go eat something."  
"I'm not hungry." She said.  
"Jesus Christ, Lara, ugh... Fine, see you around." I had enough of her childish behavior. We were on a trip for Christ's sake. I put my green summer dress on and  
started walking back to the hotel. Why didn't she talk to me more, and why would she not want my help? Admittedly, I haven't really asked her what kept her in that study room all day. I just figured she wanted to be left alone for a while. Still, I have asked her plenty of time to talk to me, to tell me how she feels. I've told her numerous times that I'll there for her, whenever she needs me. And this is how she repays me? By being annoyed at me? Screw it then, if she wanted to deal with it alone, I'll let her deal with it on her fucking own.

I made it back to the hotel and entered the dining part, thankful for the cool breeze from the AC. I didn't feel like eating at any of the restaurants along the beach. I walked through the buffet and mashed together some sandwiches. When I sat at a table I realised I was alone in the entire hall. I didn't let it bother me and took my first bite. I still had a knot in my stomach about Lara and I wasn't sure how to approach it. First there was the PTSD issue, whether or not she had it. How will would we find out if she has it or not if she won't go to some sessions? And if she does have it, how do I deal with it? Maybe I could talk to someone about it? I'm not sure how she would feel if I talked to people about it behind her back, especially after our little fight a couple of minutes ago. I guess I'll just have to make her talk to me, somehow. _And then there's the fact I have feelings for her. _When I thought about that I kind of startled myself. I stopped mid bite and looked around as if someone near me would've heard me think that out loud. Still alone. Oh God, did I have feelings for her? I mean no doubt she was absolutely gorgeous. And I've had flings with girls before, but that was limited to sex, not _actual _feelings. The scariest part was what it might do to our relationship. I wouldn't be able to handle losing her. God dammit, why was this so complicated. I looked at my sandwich and didn't realise the man until he took a seat in front of me. I looked at him and then to the left or right as if perhaps the entire dining hall had filled and there was no room left anymore which caused him to sit at my table. But no, just him and me.  
"Uhm…" I looked at him with an open mouth. "Hi?"  
"Miss Nishimura?" The man asked. He had very short gray hair which seemed to overflow in his beard perfectly, as it about as short and gray. He had a worn out face, as if he's seen all the horrors in the world and didn't care anymore, accompanied with a scar on his left cheek. Though, the most off thing about his appearance where his dark clothing, since he was wearing a black sweater and cargo pants in this weather. Perhaps hiding even more scars? His sweater had a logo which consisted of a silver shield with a blue T in it.  
"Y-Yes...? Who are you and how do you know my name?"  
"I'm Connor Bennet. I work for the TAFDI. I know you're name as I know you've been involved with the discovery of Yamatai. I would like to talk to you about that." My eyes widened the moment he mentioned that wretched island. I immediately felt uncomfortable.  
"Yamatai..?"  
"Yes, sorry if that brings up some bad memories, but I'd really like to talk to you about it." The man continued. Yup, time for Lara. I wanted to stand up and look for her straight away, but the man put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me down again. Well, pushed might not be the correct word, he just nonchalantly lowered his hand on my shoulder. I could already tell there was no way I was getting up if he didn't want me to, his hand felt like warm concrete.  
"If you hurt me I'm going to scream so loud you'll die, just so you know." I said softly. My instinct said to reach for my phone, but realised I decided to leave it in the hotel room, and not take it to the beach. Funny, how I thought that was a good decision a while ago. I looked around to see if perhaps someone had come in, but I was still alone with the man. The exceptionally large dining hall was deserted.  
"I have no reason to hurt you, miss." The man said, he smiled. Despite his ravaged face he tried his best to look as friendly as he could. "Just hear me out, okay?"  
"Doesn't look like I have a choice." Although I was really curious what this guy had to say about Yamatai, specially since it seemed it was being covered up.  
"Great." He smiled again, moving his scar on his cheek. "I have some information regarding Yamatai, and I know you were involved in a very special way."  
"You could say that. By the way, what's TAFDI?"  
"The Trinity Archeological Findings and Discovery Institute." He said as he tapped on the logo on his sweater.  
"Okay, so now what? What is it you wanted to talk about it. Stop being so vague and tell me what you want." I was getting really anxious.  
"Fair enough. We need your help."  
I frowned. "My help? What on earth could I help you with?"  
"Could I invite you to a meeting with my superior so he can explain in detail?"  
"No, you can explain it to me right here and now."  
"Miss, I can assure you it's safe. We can meet in a public pl-..."  
"No! Of course not! Of course I will not go with you. I don't even know you are, how you know my name, or what you want from me! Are you insane?!" I crossed my arms. "You either explain yourself right now, or I'm leaving."  
Connor took a deep breath. "Fine then. We need your help retrieving a stone from a hidden city inside the Amazon rainforest."  
I looked at him for two seconds with my eyes wide open. The absurdity of his sentence, in the current situation, made me burst out laughing. "What?! Are you serious?" I said when I calmed down a bit. "Where are the hidden camera's?" I looked around me to check. I half expected a film crew popping out from under the table or something.  
"I'm serious." The man said. His smile disappeared. "Could I please interest you in a meeting with my superior? He can meet you anywhere where you want."  
"Why me? Why not Lara? She discovered the island."  
"We will involve her, too." He leaned back in his chair.  
"Stop being so vague! Where is she? Did you talk to her already?"  
"No not yet. We will involve Miss Croft if you agree to meet my superior."  
"I'll have to talk to _Miss Croft _about this." I said and got up from my chair. This time Connor didn't stop me from leaving. "You're weird. Very weird." I pointed my finger at him as I walked by towards the exit. Before I reached the exit I was already running. Running towards Lara. I needed to tell her this. The longer I was running the more it struck me how bizarre everything was. Why was Yamatai being covered up? Why could we not reach Harry anymore? And, most importantly, why was there a man asking for my help to retrieve a stone in the amazon rainforest?! Jesus, this _must _be a prank.

My skin was glistening with sweat when I reached the beach. I saw another girl talking to Lara which I recognized from the group Felix pointed to earlier since her haircut wasn't average to say the least. She had a blonde mohawk, while the sides of her hair were black. It actually looked quite good on her. She was sitting next to Lara in the sand and I could see she had a tattoo in the shape of angel wings across her shoulder blades.  
"Lara, we need to talk." I said half out of breath as I reached them. The girl turned her head towards me.  
"Hi, I'm Livia." The girl said. She reached out to shake my hand.  
"I'm Sam, great to meet you. Lara, I need to talk to you." I said, ignoring the girls hand. I really had no time for pleasantries.  
"Sam, I'm busy talking to-..." Lara said.  
"Please, Lara, this is really important. I wouldn't interrupt you if it wasn't."  
Lara squinted her eyes. "Okay, then talk?" She gestured me to sit down.  
"In private, please." I replied.  
"I'll leave you girls to it." The mohawk girl said, and she got up. "Thanks for the chat, Lara. See you girls tonight!" She waved as she walked back to her group.  
Lara looked up at me and gave me a look. "_What?_"  
"There's a man." I said as I pointed towards the hotel. "He's talking about Yamatai and he knows my name. He also talks about a stone in a city in the Amazon rainforest. He wants my help and h-..."  
"Wow, wow, wow." Lara said as she got on her feet. She instantly looked focussed. "Calm down. Who's talking about Yamatai?"  
"A man in the hotel! Uh...Connor. Connor something, something with a B." I pointed more vigorously to the hotel.  
"Okay." Lara picked up her towel and book. "Walk and talk. Let's go."  
We made our way to the hotel while I explained everything that transpired. Lara had looked very worried and she hadn't said a thing, she was just listening to me. As we entered the hotel we immediately made way for the dining hall. Somewhere I expected it to happen, but I was still disappointed when I realised the man had disappeared. At least I was back in an airconditioned room again.  
"Right here!" I said as I pointed to the chair Connor had sat in just several minutes ago. I saw that my half eaten sandwich was still there. "I swear to God, Lara, he just left."  
Lara just looked at me, she looked pretty serious. I wasn't sure if she had a hard time believing me.  
"You don't believe me?" I asked pouting.  
"I do. Of course I do, Sam." She said. "I am just thinking what our next move would be." That warmed my heart.  
"Google the Trinity Archeological Findings and Discovery Institute?"  
Lara looked at me with a plain face. "That makes more sense than I'd like to admit. Okay let's go upstairs." She said as she turned and starting walking to the elevators. I had trouble keeping up with her. She pushed the elevator button and waited impatiently for the doors to open. I saw her eyes moving about and knew she was thinking about something.  
"What do you think this all means?" I asked but she didn't reply. "Lara?"  
"What?" She looked at me. The elevator doors opened and we walked inside.  
"What do you think that all means?" I asked again. "The cover up of Yamatai, this man, everything."  
She looked downwards and clenched her jaw. "I don't know."  
"It looks like you know something."  
"It's nothing." The elevator was zooming in the background.  
"I can tell when you're thinking about something, Lara. Just tell me!"  
"Sam, honestly, I'm just thinking what it _might _mean."  
"Don't close me off on this one, Lara."  
"I won't." She looked at me.  
"Promise."  
"I promise." She smiled at me. The doors went open and Lara sped out towards our room. I loved it when she got this agile badass thing going on. When I entered our room Lara was already tapping on her phone. I sat on the leather couch next to her and looked at the screen.  
"Anything?" I asked.  
"Not on TAFDI, anyway." Lara said annoyed. "I'm trying to find something on just Trinity now." She said as she typed the word in Google and the page loaded.  
"Just bands and universities." I said.  
"Yeah. Shit." She said disappointed. She kept scrolling for a few more pages, but everyone knows that everything is useless on Google's third page and on. Finally, she closed her phone and leaned back in the couch.  
"Maybe it was a prank?" Lara said as she looked at me.  
"Well, I didn't see any camera's." I replied. Lara closed her eyes. "I'm thinking he'll try again."  
"Probably, which is why we need to be careful. We don't know their motives."  
"I'm going to the campfire tonight, though! You can't make me stay inside." I poked her. She opened her eyes. "And you're coming with me!"  
"Is that so?" She said as she raised her eyebrows. I then got off the couch and placed both my knees on both sides of her legs so I was facing her on the couch.  
"Yes, of course. you're my savior, which means you're my bodyguard, which, incidentally, means I'm in charge. If you don't listen I'm going to have to tickle punish you."  
Lara burst out laughing. She still had her arms besides her, as if she felt like I wasn't a threat. This made me initiate a full assault straight away. My motive, I assure you, was purely friendly and playful. However, the moment my hands touched her bare stomach, to start tickling her, I got this feeling in my gut. You know that feeling you get when you're about to do something very naughty with someone? That tingling in your gut, light headedness and deep breathing you get when you know you're about to see the other person naked for the first time? We had tickle fights in the past and I've touched her in a friendly way before, but this time was different. Where was this coming from? It was so out of the blue it was surreal. Was it because of the adrenaline caused by what just happened with that man? Was this just sexual or was there more? Her skin was so silky smooth and warm. I wanted to move my hands up to her ribs. I wanted to take her sports bra/bikini top,  
whatever it was, off and just…  
"Ahh!" I was violently pulled back to reality when Lara let out a playful scream after she couldn't take my tickling anymore. I took a second to get my bearings. Oh my God, _what was I thinking? _She's my best friend! I was amazed by myself I was actually still tickling her, and not sensually straddling her body. She was far stronger than me and easily pushed me back with her muscled forearms. Those lovely muscled, yet thin and feminine forearms, that… STOP IT. I quickly stepped off the couch.  
"Oh, scared for retaliation, I see." Lara said grinning, completely oblivious, and got up. I firmly stood my ground when Lara stood before me, still grinning from ear to ear. Our noses almost touched.  
"Nope. Just showing who's boss here." I said with a straight face right in front of her, with my heart beating in my throat. She looked me in the eyes, as if she was inspecting me. God, I hope my cheeks weren't too red.  
"Fine, _boss_." She finally said, and then laughed. "Let's go downstairs to eat, because I haven't yet." And she walked past me towards the door while I stood still for two seconds to get my bearings once more. This was bad, _so bad. _Well, at least we weren't fighting anymore, I guess.  
"Sorry about before, by the way." I said as we stood in the elevator once more.  
She smiled at me. "I should be sorry. I'll try and talk more. You know, about me being fucked up and stuff."

I gave her a hug. Just friendly intentions, I swear.


	4. Best friend mistakes

Connor slid his finger across the buttons on the panel. Normally he'd press the button on any given elevator a dozen times, as if that would make it go faster. But not this time, this time he pressed the number 17 just once. Slowly. The doors closed and the elevator set in motion, zooming across all floors. He grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat of his forehead.  
_*ding*  
_The elevator doors opened. Connor stared into the hallway for a while before he stepped out. His boots made a dull sound on the carpet as he walked past the offices on his right and left. At the end of the hallway he made a left, walked past a few more offices and knocked on the door on the end.  
"Come in." Was the answer from inside.  
"Mister Mitani." Connor said as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.  
"Mister Bennet, please take a seat." The Asian man said. Connor took a seat in front of the desk.  
"So." The Asian man behind the desk said. "Good news?"  
"Expected news, which, in essence, is good news, I believe. The girl didn't accept meeting you. Yet."  
"But that was expected?"  
"Yes." Connor said as he crossed his legs. "I didn't expect her to just hop in a plane when I mentioned some stone in the Amazon."  
"You mentioned the stone?" The man raised his eyebrows.  
"Yes, obviously I didn't mention what kind of st-..."  
"Why?"  
Connor clenched his jaw for a second. "I believe she is more inclined to go if there's a real purpose behind it all." He said.  
"And you're sure that her friend, Croft, needs to come along?"  
Conner raised his eyebrows, surprised he even knew her name. "Again, she'll be more inclined to come that way. Why? You know her?"  
Mitani rubbed his chin for a moment. "I met her a few times." He said leaning back in his chair. "But she was still a small child, she won't remember. I dealt with a father a lot, though. If she's half a stubborn as he is, we might have an issue."  
"We can dispose of her, but it won't do us any good. She'll never come along then."  
"Right. I need to ask though, can we not force her to come along? We can just take her to the city now, instead of waiting until some rebellious 20 something year old decides to come along with some strange men."  
"Honestly, we might need her to take the stone with her willingly. Kidnapping her will ruin that opportunity for us."  
The Asian pressed his lips together and looked at the ceiling, lost in thought. "Alright then Mister Bennet, that'll be all." He said finally.  
Connor quickly got up from his chair and made his way to the door.  
"Oh, and one last thing." The Asian made said as Connor held the door open. "The success of our operation here is imperative. I hope that you realise what the consequences will be for you if you fail."  
Connor looked at him for a second. "I am aware of your procedures, sir." Connor closed the door behind him as he traced a finger across the scar on his cheek. He quickly made his way to the elevator. This time he did press the button a dozen times hoping it would make the elevator go faster. When he stepped outside into the buzzing crowd of people going about their day, Connor got out his phone, tapped on it a few times and held it to his ear.  
"And?" A man with an American accent said on the other side.  
"Plan is still a go." Connor said.  
"And Mitani?"  
"Fucking piece of shit, as always."  
"You think he suspects anything?"  
"No." Connor said as he got a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "We're good. But after this I'm done dealing with this Mitani fucker."  
"Understood, just make sure the girls come along. Keep me up to date."

I sat on one of the benches that were placed around the campfire. Well, one of the campfires, anyway. In the end so many people showed up they needed more than one. Four to be precise. I don't know why that was interesting. I guess I was just bored. And drunk. I managed to drag Lara to the campfire hoping she'd socialize a bit, and she did exactly that. So much, though, that she actually completely forgot about me. It wasn't that bad, though. I wasn't sitting here feeling sorry for myself. I actually had quite a good time this evening. But Lara gets so fun when she's drunk, and I still felt bad about our little fight earlier today. I just wanted to talk to her. But there she was, talking to that Livia girl again, accompanied by a few other guys. I looked at the bottle I was holding. What was even in this thing? I decided to leave it at the bench and go talk to Lara.  
"And no ticket whatsoever!" Lara said to Livia with a beer bottle in her hand as I reached the group. Lara was drunk, too, it was noticeable.  
"It was probably your gorgeous face, to be honest." Livia laughed. Wait what? Was she flirting with Lara? I looked at Lara, she had red cheeks. I wasn't sure that was because of the alcohol or because she was blushing. Was Livia gay? Was Lara gay? Wait, let's not jump to any conclusions, I'm probably just too drunk to understand.  
"It was probably something else." One of the guys, also holding a beer bottle, said while looking at Lara her chest. Livia turned her head towards him with a filthy look.  
"What do you mean?" Lara asked, completely oblvious what the guy meant.  
"Hi!" I said quickly so that wouldn't escalate any further.  
"Oh, hi, Sam!" Lara said enthusiastically as she put an arm on my shoulders. "You met Livia, right?" She pointed at the girl with her cool mohawk. I wonder how that looked on me.  
"Yes, but last time I was a bit rude, sorry about that." I smiled and reached out my hand to shake hers.  
"It's okay." Livia smiled. "Lara was telling me about you two taking a trip here. Myself, I'm from Austria."  
"Are you Felix's girlfriend?" I asked a bit too hopeful.  
She laughed again. "No, I met Felix on my way here. His group is making a trip around the UK, same as I."  
"Oh, that's pretty cool." If this girl was honestly hitting on Lara I might have to murder her face off. I looked at Lara and she was already talking to some other guy. Couldn't blame the people, to be honest.  
"You guys a couple?" Livia suddenly asked. I didn't expect _that _question. Did she know? Perhaps because of the way I looked at Lara? Already, though? She hasn't looked at me more than 10 minutes tops. Okay, I could either answer that question truthfully, and have Livia hit on Lara some more. _Or, _I could tell her we _are _a couple and she'd probably back off, right? Would she? God, I didn't even know if Livia was actually hitting on her. I just looked at Livia, with my mouth open. Shit, what the hell do I say to this girl?  
"Oh." She suddenly started grinning. "She doesn't know yet. am I right?"  
"Uhm...I…" Is all I could muster up. Livia took two steps closer to me and put her mouth next to my ear.  
"I spent an entire evening talking to her, and you know what? I think she might have a thing for you. Lucky you, she's pretty hot." She whispered before she left my personal space area again.  
"T-t… That's absurd, you don't know that!" I startled myself by raising my voice. I quickly looked at Lara, but she was still laughing about with some guy. Then I looked back at Livia, who was now grinning more than ever, and I realised I kind of just gave away my thing for Lara.  
"You should just go for it." She said calmly, and smiled.  
"You don't know anything about me." I replied anxiously.  
"I know you have a thing for her. You can see it from miles away."  
"Stop. Please." I looked at my toes curling in the sand below me.  
"Well, if you don't do anything about it, somebody else might." She said as she looked at Lara.  
"Stay away from her, I'm warning you." Looking her in her dark green eyes.  
Livia frowned. "Don't act like you own her."  
"Please, can you just leave her alone? Jesus." My head was spinning. What the hell was happening? "I-I..It's hard you know? She's my best friend. My very best friend. And I don't want to ruin that."  
"So you admit you're into her?"  
"What is it to you? Honestly, what does it matter to you? You're being mean." I was getting annoyed at this girl now. How is any of this her business?  
"I was just wondering." There was that grin of her again. "Hey, Lara! Come on over here." Livia suddenly yelled. My heart was beating in my throat now. I looked at Lara as she was walking over here. The adrenaline shot I had from the conversation with Livia had pushed my drunkenness away a bit, but I could see Lara was far worse than I was.  
"Don't say a word about this, I'm serious." I growled at her.  
"Don't worry, I won't." She replied as Lara managed to waddle to where we were standing. "I'm leaving for tonight, it was so nice meeting you!"  
"Aw, okay then." Lara looked disappointed. "See you tomorrow then?" She was so drunk.  
"Can I get a goodnight kiss?" My eyes widened. _Oh no, she wouldn't dare. That bitch wouldn't dare.  
_"Uhm, sure?" Lara laughed awkwardly, closed her eyes and pursed her lips. _Stop, stop, stop._ I could only look at Livia smiling, stepping so close to Lara she could put her arms around her waist and lean in for a kiss. I could just stand there. I wanted to scream and claw her face open, but I just stood there. And it wasn't just a kiss, it was a tongue kiss, and a hefty one at it. Lara was completely overwhelmed and didn't really know where to put her hands. She didn't technically kiss her back, but she didn't close her mouth either. Livia was slightly taller than Lara, so Lara had to slightly tilt her head. After about 5 seconds Lara apparently decided to just go with it and put her hands on Livia's cheeks, after dropping the bottle she was holding, and joined her in the tongue act. The kiss was so sensual I felt my stomach tingle. And all I could do was just fucking stand there and take it because if I'd get mad at her now, Lara would instantly know. Or would she? I had never in my life felt such anger and astonishment at the same time. My mind was racing with so many things I started to feel lightheaded. This meant Lara was gay, right? Or bi? Or was she just too drunk to resist? Their sloppy kiss went on for another ten seconds, and if I didn't tunnel vision on this horrific event in front of me, I would have probably heard a dozen guys yell and scream on the top of their lungs at the two hot girls kissing. Now Lara _was _actually blushing. Finally, Livia released Lara from her bewitched grip.  
"See you tomorrow.!" She said as she walked away. She winked at me as she walked past me. _Whore._ Lara was just standing there, still unsure what exactly happened. The yelling of the guys around her died down and was replaced by disappointed grunts. I looked at her as she turned her head towards me. She actually looked kind of worried. Why? She moved her eyes downwards. What was wrong with her? Did she already regret it? I stepped towards her.  
"Well… uhm... that was different." I said as I put my hand on her shoulder. I wasn't mad at Lara, I really wasn't. I was, however, furious at Livia.  
"Yeah." She said as if she was pulled back from a trance. "That was...my head hurts, want to go back to the hotel?"  
"Yeah. Let's go." I just wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. I grabbed Lara by her hand and started walking. On our way back to the hotel, my mind was filled with thoughts and questions about what happened. I felt worried, happy, sad, weird, turned on all at the same time. My head was starting to hurt, as well. I looked at Lara and still couldn't pinpoint what exactly she was feeling.  
"You okay?" I asked as we stepped inside the elevator.  
"No idea how to feel...I…I don't know. Really. I'm sorry."  
"Sorry for what?" I asked as I ignored the gazillion questions that had popped in my head.  
"I... I don't know, Sam. I just want to sleep, or vomit. Or both. Why did I drink so much?" Lara was leaning against the button panel and managed to press three more buttons.  
"I guess it was a fun get together." I laughed as the elevator doors opened to the wrong floor. Lara just grunted in return. When the doors opened for the fourth time, I got out and dragged Lara by her arm to our room. That whole saliva exchanging ordeal sure did sober me up. I slid the keycard through the device and the door clicked open.  
"I'm sorry, Sam." Lara said as she tried to get to sit on the couch, but managed to fall to the floor in front of it. I quickly walked up to her and sat her up on the floor with her back to the couch.  
"Watch it, sweetie. And sorry for what?" I asked as I sat next to her on the floor. Clearly it hadn't sobered Lara up. Hell, she seemed to get more drunk every second.  
"Because… B-because of what happened."  
"You mean on the beach? The kiss?"  
"Yes." She sighed as she put her hands on her eyes.  
"Why would you be sorry for that?" I asked.  
"I don't know… I don't want you to think wrong things of me."  
"What wrong things, sweetie? You didn't do anything wrong."  
"You sure?" She asked as she looked at me pouting her lips.  
"Yes, it was a kiss, why would that be wrong? You're single!" I said with pain in my heart. _I should just tell her right here and now.  
_"Because it was with a girl." She diverted her eyes. I got goosebumps.  
"Well, yes… So? Do you think it's a problem if you like girls?" My heart was pounding in my throat again.  
"I don't know." Lara looked really worried. Something was obviously bothering her greatly.  
"Do you?"  
"Do I what?" Lara asked as she looked at me again.  
"Like girls? Do you like girls?" _For the love of everything ever in the universe, ever ever, please say yes.  
_"Oh my God, Sam." Lara fell over gently with her head in my lap. I placed one hand on her cheek.  
"What is it, Lara? Honestly, if you do it's totally fine, I swear."  
"I don't know." She said _again.  
_"Yes, you do. You're just afraid to tell me."  
"I want to go to sleep." Lara suddenly started to get up.  
"No. Wait. We're not done talking here!" I practically yelled. I grabbed her by her hand but she pulled away.  
"My head hurts, Sam, I just want to go to bed, okay?" She said as she staggered towards the bedroom. I watched her almost fall over about five times before she managed to reach it. I just sat there, still on the floor, listening to my own breathing. Now what? Will she remember anything tomorrow? The kiss? Our talk just now? Oh God, if she did, would it get awkward between us? What if she didn't remember, would I tell her? How would I tell her? Though, if she did remember, how would we talk about this? My head started to hurt. I looked up at the ceiling. _You like this, God? Messing with me like this, huh? You dick, I don't even believe in you._ I'd just have to deal with this head on. In the morning. I got up and walked to the bedroom. I fell asleep about 3 milliseconds after my head met with the pillow.

The bright light hurt my eyes when I opened them. The curtains were open and it was light out. I looked to my side and realised Lara wasn't in bed anymore. Figured as much, she wasn't ever affected by a hangover. I groaned as I sat up straight and rubbed my eyes. Apparently, the sobering up last night didn't completely prevent _my _hangover.  
"Lara?" I yelled. No response. I got up and managed to get out of bed. "Lara?!" I yelled again. "Where are you?" Did she remember everything, had a panic attack and left? I walked to the living area, empty. Bathroom, empty. Okay, shit. I placed my face in my hand palms. My phone! I almost dropped it when I quickly tapped on her number. My heart sank when I heard her ringtone from the bedroom. She didn't take her phone. What the hell do I do now? Do I look for her? I _should _go look for her. Just as I made my way to the door Lara opened it and stepped inside holding a plastic bag.  
"Hey, morning, I thought you'd feel a little sick from yesterday so I brought breakfast upstairs." Lara said as she stepped inside with a grin on her face. I just managed to look at her.  
"Sam? Are you alright?" Lara frowned as she put the bag on the table. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
"Yes." I said as I observed her closely. I knew Lara and if she remembered everything from last night, she'd be a whole lot more distant than she is now. Right? I contemplated what I should say next.  
"Yes, what?" Lara emptied the bag on the table. She brought sandwiches, juice and some eggs. "Yes, you've seen a ghost?"  
"No, I haven't. I meant, yes, I am alright. How're you feeling? You were pretty drunk yourself, honey." I tried to grin at her. "You get really fun when you're drunk." Lara averted her eyes immediately and her frowning made place for a shameful gaze. Damn, did I just say too much?  
"Uh… yeah."  
"Uh… what?" I asked, jokingly. "Did you have fun last night? I know I practically dragged you there against your will, but I like to think you had fun."  
"It _was _fun." She tried to smile. "You know, the few parts I remember." I let out a sigh of relief when I realised she was being embarrassed by how drunk she had gotten, which made her unable to remember most of the night and not by the fact she made out with a girl in front of a dozen guys.  
"Don't worry, everyone was drunk." I laughed as I joined her at the table. I was laughing on the outside, but I was stressing on the inside. Should I tell Lara what happened last night? I didn't want her to feel awkward with me, not now anyway. But if she didn't hear it from me, she might hear it from someone else. Didn't she say she was going to meet Livia again today? Would she mention it? I really did want to tell her, because she deserves to know. My head was pounding, but I wasn't sure if that was from the booze last night or because of Lara.  
"You're not hungry?" Lara asked with her mouth full. I realised I was staring down at my empty plate while lost in my thoughts.  
"No. I mean, yes. Yes, I am hungry." I said as I grabbed a sandwich.  
"What were you thinking about?" Lara asked  
"Just last night." I said as my attention was directed at pouring juice in my glass. _Fuck, couldn't I have said I was thinking about something else?  
_"I hope I didn't do or say anything weird?" Lara asked hopeful.  
"No, you didn't do anything weird." I couldn't even look at her. _Do I tell her?  
_"So you can remember last night?"  
"I guess, perhaps I am more accustomed to liquor." I forced a laugh.  
"So what did we do?"  
"Nothing weird."  
"That's not what I asked, Sam."  
"Just, you know… hang out at the beach."  
"You're acting kind of weird." Lara tilted her head as she inspected me.  
"No, I'm not. Just a bit of a headache. Sorry, sweetie."  
"Seriously, though, what did we do? What did I do? I'm just asking so I know I don't have to be embarrassed or anything. I didn't do or say anything out of the ordinary?" She asked while taking another bite. "Hell, I should be ashamed, just by the fact I drank so much." I just looked at her and couldn't mutter a word. When I didn't say anything for a few seconds, Lara started to look nervous.  
"Sam?" She asked. _Do I tell her? Do I tell her now? Oh my God, I don't know. I don't know what to say to her. I want to tell her, but I'm not sure that's the right thing to do. I want to do the right thing.  
_"SAM!" Lara yelled. "Tell me!"  
"You made out with someone, okay?! Geez, it's not that big of a deal." I looked her in the eyes, hoping she wouldn't start stressing out. She returned my gaze with open mouth and didn't say anything.  
"Look." I continued. "It's no big deal, okay? You're single, you had something to drink, you made out with someone and that was it. Nothing else happened, we went back to the ho-..."  
"Oh, God." Lara said as she put her hand before her mouth. "Oh, God." She repeated.  
"Lara, listen to me, it's okay. Don't freak out, alright? I know it's a bit outside your comfort zone, but it's fine, truly."  
"It was with Livia, wasn't it?" Lara asked as she seemed to remember more and more from last night, still freaked out with her mouth covered with her hand. My silence confirmed her question. "Jesus Christ." She put her head on her arms on the table. _Well, this was going just fine._ I stood up and sat on my knees next to hear, leveling our heads.  
"Listen, sweetie." I said as I put my arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it. No one recognizes you after we leave here. We'll be gone here in two days and you won't see anyone from here ever again."  
"It's not about them." She said annoyed, with her face still hidden on her arms. I sighed.  
"Look, if it bothers you that much, I'm willing to never ever talk about it with you, ever again. I'll pretend nothing ever happened, I swear. I only told you because I wanted you to hear it from me, not from someone else."  
"You can't just forget this, Sam." She said as she lifted up her head. She looked sad and angry at the same time. Was she angry at me, or herself? _I should be a therapist or some shit, because I seem to be great at this stuff. Fuck me. _She suddenly averted her eyes. "Right? You can't just forget this." She got up before I could say anything.  
"Lara, wait. It's not that big of a deal, seriously. Just calm down, please." I said as I got up as well. Lara walked away towards the bathroom.  
"Lara, stop. Come on, talk to me." I said as I grabbed her hand. "For the tenth time, it's not that big of a deal. Hell, I made out with a dozen girls by now. What's the problem?" Lara stopped in her tracks and looked at me.  
"I'm not you, am I?" She said. What was that supposed to mean?  
"No, you're not. I'm just saying that you shouldn't make a big deal out of this. You don't have to. It's not."  
"It _is _a big deal!" She yelled as she shook loose her hand.  
"Why? Why the fuck is it such a big deal?" I was getting angry now. What was with her? Why would it be such a big deal if she kissed a girl or not. Was she so repulsed by the idea? She didn't answer me. "Oh, boo hoo, you kissed a girl, your life is over. Honestly, Lara, lighten up a little." She shook her head lightly. I should've stopped there, but I was getting fed up. Not just by her, but by the entire situation. What happened, how she reacted, my feelings for her, everything.  
"Seriously." I continued. "What is it? Are you gay? Is that it? Are you gay and you're afraid I would find out?" I realised how stupid that comment was the moment it came out my mouth. It was so dumb to say. Even _if _she was gay, that was the most idiotic thing to say. _If, Sam, IF, she was gay. _She looked at me as if I had just jammed a knife between her ribs.  
"Okay, you know what, that's not… I didn't mean to say it like that." I stammered. _I'm a fucking hypocrite._ I wanted to apologize, but she walked past me, bumping my shoulder in the process, towards the door outside.  
"Lara, wait! I'm sorry, really, I didn't mean it like that!" I yelled at her. I wanted to run after her but I was nailed to the ground. I flinched as I heard her slam the door shut behind her. For a long time I stood there, at the exact same spot I muttered those extremely stupid words, and just listened to the buzzing of the AC. How could I have been so stupid? Did I just ruin everything? She is my best friend, she is my everything, I really can't lose her.  
"Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck." I said softly. A tear rolled over my cheek as I made my first step towards the bed. I let myself fall on it, buried my face in the pillow and cried. A lot.


	5. Contact

I looked at my phone. 19:30. We agreed to meet Jonah at 20:00. I spend almost the entire day in our room, waiting for Lara. I went out a few times, downstairs for some food, or to take a look at the beach if perhaps Lara was there. I didn't find her. She was mad, I get that. She didn't want to talk to me, I get that, too. But did she really had to punish me like _this_? I had no clue where she was or what she was doing. I looked at her phone again, still laying on the nightstand next to her side of the bed. I bit my nail, could there be something in her phone which would tell me where she was? Perhaps she was meeting with Livia and there was a text from here with some details? I ran a few different scenarios through my head as I walked to the phone. They all ended with Lara and me even more mad at eachother. I decided to grab it anyway. I slid my finger across the screen to unlock it before the phone requested a pin code for access into Lara her personal life. Did she _have _a person life?

I stared at the ten digits in front of me and thought about Lara. Did she have any contact with someone beside me? Did she chat with anyone? Hell, did she have any other friends except me, Jonah and Reyes? I felt a chill run down my spine with the thought that I didn't actually know Lara that well. Though, it's hard to really know Lara when she's so closed off. Well, I _did _know the access code to her phone, that's something, right? I tapped on the 4 digits in the correct order, which I had seen lara tap on many times before. I felt my heart pounding in my throat as the phone granted me access. Why? I wasn't doing anything wrong, was I? I was just looking at a way to locate my friend who has been missing for almost an entire day… My eyes glided across the screen. 191 unread emails, 105 missed calls, 87 texts. Damn, she was a whole lot more socially involved than I suspected. Really, though, that's a lot of notifications. My finger hovered over the text messaging app as I started to feel guilty. Was I invading her privacy? She was mad at me for a reason, and left to probably cool off, rightly so. Was that enough reason to check her phone? I was about to put the phone away, until I realised I _needed _to know where she was. I just had to. I tapped on the text messaging icon and quickly skimmed through all the unread messages. It was weird, half of them were voicemail notifications, but the other half was from either unknown numbers, or numbers that weren't in her phone book. The phone only let me read to first few words without actually opening the message, but it was pretty clear that people were trying to get a hold of her.

_Miss Croft, we'd like to know…_

_Hi, I'm with the BBC and…_

_Lara Croft, I'm hoping I could…_

_Please respond._

_Lara, I need to know if…_

My hands started shaking as I had just realised something. Something that I have _completely _missed before, and something extremely important to Lara. I used my shaky finger to press the home button and switch to her mail app. It was basically the same thing; everyone trying to get a hold of her. I ignored the goosebumps that formed and decided to open a random email. I had to know if I was right.

_Dear Lara Croft,_

_I am Rebecca from the BBC and I was hoping it would be possible to have a word with you. I would love to do an interview with you. I have worked with your father in the past and I can assure you that I have no intention to taint your name. You can reach me on my mobile phone, as below._

_Regards,_

_Rebecca Niles  
BBC_

A little tear ran down my cheek as I marked the email as unread and put away her phone. I had missed something. I had missed something dreadful. I wiped away the tear on my cheek and sat on the bed. Lara wasn't just a young girl going on an expedition that went wrong. She wasn't just _some_ girl. She was the daughter of the world famous archaeologist and explorer Lord Richard James Croft and Lady Amelia Croft. She is the heir of the Croft fortune. She was Lady Lara Croft, Countess of Abingdon. And as her very first worthy expedition as the sole survivor of the Croft family, a lot of people got killed, and the island, accordingly to the media, was found to be totally useless. The Croft family name _was_ tainted.

"Fuck." I quietly whispered as I looked down at the floor, defeated. She had only known for two days, though. Was that what was bothering her? She didn't seem to mind so much when she heard the news the first time. Maybe she didn't realize it was such a huge thing until every news agency in the country wanted to interview her. I'm glad the family had been so to herself, now at least no one really knows what Lara looks like. Yet. I let myself fall on the bed and looked at the ceiling, thinking what my next move would be. I then decided to grab my phone and call Jonah to tell him we were a bit later. I didn't tell him why, he didn't need to know. As I hung up I glanced at the time on my phone. 19:50.

I was surprised by the door that opened. I was half expecting Lara went back to London already. I literally propelled my body towards the living area.

"Lara!" I yelled. I looked at her standing near the door. I expected to feel overjoyed about seeing her again, feeling sorry about what happened to her, feeling guilty about what I said before. But, instead, that all instantly disappeared and made place for anger. Anger about that she managed to just leave me alone for the entire day, while being on a trip, to worry myself to death. If she wanted to leave an hour, fine. Two hours, right, okay. But the entire fucking day? No.

"Hey." She said nonchalantly. "I hope you weren't too worried, I went to-..."

"I don't care." I interrupted her. "We're late for Jonah. Grab your phone and let's go."

"Sam…" She said softly as she put her hand on my shoulder. I immediately shrugged her off.

"Don't touch me. Just…" I closed my eyes. "Get your phone and lets go, please."

"Sam, look I want to-..."

"No!" I didn't let her finish. I felt furious. I couldn't help it, I didn't even want to, but I did. I was furious at her. "You don't just leave for the entire day and then calmly explain yourself!" I was yelling. Lara just looked at me. She wasn't scared, surely? She had looked death in the eyes, she can't be scared of me. But I wasn't sure if she was shocked _I, _of all people, was having a go at her, or if she was still angry. "Answer this one question." I said as calmly as I could. "During any part of the day, _any _part, were you unable to come back? Did you stay away the whole day _knowingly_ how worried I would be, yes or no?"

"I… I-I didn't…" She stammered.

"Yes or no?!" I clenched my fists. My brain was running on full power now. I now understood why I was angry. It wasn't just this incident. It was everything, everything which I've been trying to ignore. But now it was all coming out.

"I just wanted to take a moment, okay? I just… I didn't know how to react. And yes, I know you'd be worried, but with the things you said and how you said-..." Lara said worryingly.

"You don't do that to me, Lara." I said calmly looking directly in her eyes. "You don't fucking do that to me."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-…"

"No. Just no. I've had it with your closed off behaviour. I've had it with you not telling me a Goddamn thing. With you pretending that I'm some stupid person who doesn't understand what's going on."

"I don't think you're a stupid-..."

"Let me finish!" I yelled, pointing my finger at her. "You think I'm some brat who doesn't understand the pain you're going through. Some stuck up bitch who doesn't get what you've seen and experienced. And you use that to justify just plainly ignoring me. Never telling me a fucking thing. We're best friends. Hell, we fucking live together! What you are doing to me, is just cruel. Have you ever thought how you make me feel when you don't tell me shit? Well you know what, Croft? _I _am in pain, too, you know that?" I heard people walking through the hallway and I was sure they heard me yell. I didn't care, though, I had to say this I really had enough. I was still looking at Lara, and all she could do is look back. "I went through your phone." I said after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh?" Is all she could muster.

"That's what I'm talking about. One of the many things you hide from me." I sighed. I felt bad for Lara, of course. But she needed to hear this. "I'm so, so sorry you have to go through that, your family name being tainted and all that. But, Lara, listen to me. If you keep hiding things from me, treating me like a person who couldn't or wouldn't understand, I am leaving." I saw her mouth opening slightly as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. "I'm serious, I cannot go on with this. If you continue like this, that's your decision. It's your life and if you feel like completely shutting me out of everything, that is entirely up to you. But if you decide to live your life like that, there's no place for me in it. Do you understand me?" I would have never thought to ever be apart of Lara, but I was serious. I cannot go on like this.

"Yes…" She said softly. "I'm...I'm sorry."

"Get your phone. Then we can go."

"Shouldn't we talk about this, first? Please, Sam…"

"Later. Jonah is waiting." I said as I pointed towards the bedroom. "And give me your keys. I'm driving."

I listened to the engine roaring as my hands were clenched around the leather steering wheel. It was a short 5 minute drive, and, to be honest, we could have walked, but the drive seemed to take forever. We didn't say anything to each other. I started to doubt if my outburst had maybe crossed the line. Though, I knew I was right. I glanced at Lara again. Lara was looking out the side window while playing nervously with her nails. I hope I didn't upset her too much, she's going through too much already.

I parked the car in one of the spots and turned off the engine. We stayed in our seats in silence for a bit.

"You okay?" I finally asked.

"Yeah. I'm okay." She looked slightly surprised I was even talking to her. "You know I'm sorry, right?"

"So am I." I said

"You don't have to be sorry for anything."

"Yes, I do." I looked her in the eyes. "I don't how to act around you anymore, Lara. And that's not just your fault. It's mine, too. But when I don't know how to act, I'll just…. I don't know." I sighed. "See what works, I guess."

"You're right, Sam. I haven't been telling you everything. I mean…" Lara was looking for her words. "I'm not hiding stuff from you because I don't trust you or anything like that, I just… I don't want to bother you with it. I don't want to lose you."

"You'll lose me if you completely shut me out."

"I know." Lara put a hand on my knee. "I know, you're right. I'll...try. I mean, I'll try and open up, I guess."

"It's not just for me. If you tell me what's going on, I can help, you know?" I put my hand on hers. "I'm there for you. And don't worry, I won't steal away your precious study room time." I grinned.

"Maybe sometime you can help me with it." She smiled. She had such a gorgeous smile. The way her full lips were slightly pressed together and how her eyes were glistening. Not to mention her perfectly cute nose, and her silky smooth skin. And her hair, of course. Her beautiful brown hair, always in a ponytail and cute side bangs. I wonder how it would feel to kiss her. To kiss those beautiful lips, and run my hand over her cheek.

"So." Lara said. I blinked my eyes a few times as I was awoken from my Lara-trance.

"So." I repeated. "Shall we uhm… go inside?"

"Yes." Lara smiled again and got out of the car. God, what an emotional rollercoaster this day was. I went from worried, to extremely worried, to overjoyed, to angry, to… Well, I wasn't sure how I was feeling now. 

I followed Lara inside the restaurant, The Lobstah. I would never find that name not beyond ridiculous. The restaurant was directly adjacent to the sea, and we'd probably experience a very pretty sunset tonight. The restaurant was crowded, which made me glad. Glad that Jonah his business was going well. We went straight for the kitchen and met Jonah.

"Girls, so glad you could make it, thanks for coming." He gave us both a firm hug. "How're you girls doing?" We were kind of the middle of the kitchen, and a few cooks made some grumpy sounds as they walked by.

"We're okay. Enjoying Brighton's sun and sea." I smiled. "How's the Lobstah, Jonah?" I said sarcastically.

"It's a blastah." He said instantly with an enormous grin. Lara burst out laughing so loud she nearly fell over.

"Yeah, I'm just going to pretend you've never said that." I said, though I couldn't contain a little smile. "By the way, shouldn't we get out of the way? I feel overwhelmingly unwanted in your kitchen." I looked around at the cooks and waitresses running around us.

"Your cooking skills aren't _that _bad." Lara said jokingly.

"You two should do standup comedy together." I smirked. I felt really relieved Lara wasn't feeling uncomfortable around me, after my outburst back at the hotel.

"Yeah, yeah." Jonah said. "Follow me." As he walked into the restaurant. He showed us a table in the very corner of the restaurant. "Dinner is on the house, obviously. I will join you girls after I'm done making sure we don't lose too many customers." He winked at us before he walked back to the kitchen. Not long after, a waiter came take our orders.

"You said 'it's not entirely my fault.' What did you mean by that?" Lara asked as the waiter had just given us our drinks.

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"In the car. You said that you didn't know how to act around me anymore, but that it wasn't entirely my fault."

"Right." I said as I took a sip from my drink. _Dammit._

"So? What did you mean by that?" She asked again.

"That it's also my fault."

"Sam…"

"I don't know, Lara. _I _don't know how to act around you, so I guess that means it's also my fault?"

"I'm sure you meant more than that." She pressed her lips together.

"I guess…perhaps that's a conversation for another time."

"_That's _mysterious." Lara frowned. "Are you serious?"

"I don't know how to explain."

"You're being so vague, Sam, honestly." She said. "Try to explain."

"I'm not sure...I…" I closed my eyes for a second. "Are we even best friends still? I mean, do you remember our time in college? How much fun we had, how close we were. We did almost everything together. Of course, you have never been an open and about person, but I didn't mind, because you still told me stuff. How you felt, how you were, how school was going. I always thought that would be forever. I guess that was just naive of me. I mean, after Yamatai, everything changed and that made me feel worse than actually being on the island. Maybe I wouldn't say that if I was back there, but you get my drift. I moved in with you again because I wanted to be there for you, and I was hoping you'd be there for me, too. But most importantly, I wanted things to be like they were before. Us being close, doing things together, telling each other almost everything. But that didn't happen. You stopped talking to me, you closed off even more than you already were. And, of course, I understand that you need to recover. What happened on the island is… Well you know what happened there. I just… the past few months felt like I was with you because you felt like we had to, not because we were even important to each other anymore, you know what I mean? We went through that shit together, and perhaps we felt that was a reason to stay close together, while in reality, our connection is gone. And I don't want that to happen, and I tried fixing that. But at the same time I didn't want to bother you, I wanted to help you recover, help you get back on your feet. I can't find a middle ground between those two. You're the most important person in my life, and I'm torn between helping you get your life back in order and making sure I don't lose you."

"Thank you." Lara said after looking at me for a while.

"For what?" I asked unsure.

"Being honest and telling me. It means a lot. And I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you."

"It's…"

"You know you're the most important person for me, too, right? I don't want to lose you either." Lara said. That put a smile on my face. She hadn't said that in such a long time, now that she finally did, it felt great. "You know...?" She continued.

"What?" I asked.

"The thing that keeps me up at night isn't even the stuff about Yamatai, or me feeling out of place. It's you."

"Huh?" I said with an open mouth.

"Girls." Jonah interrupted as he took a seat on our table. "Mind if I join?"

"Of course not." Lara said quickly and smiled. I looked at Lara and she returned my gaze. We'd have to save this conversation for another time. We spent the next few hours catching up with Jonah while we enjoyed the food. We talked about how he was, how we were, how his restaurant was going, what we did nowadays, about Yamatai being covered up and finally about the meeting I had with this Connor man. It was great talking to Jonah again, no matter the subject. We didn't end up getting a nice sunset as just before it got dark, it started getting cloudy and finally it started to rain. 

It rained up until 1 AM. We were still at the same table, enjoying a few last drinks. Non-alcoholic this time. We were the only ones left, as the rest of people had left since the restaurant closes at midnight. I looked outside into the darkness. The rainy darkness. Whenever I looked into the dark night, it gave me a strong deja vu feeling. Obviously, I've looked in the dark night before, but recently it gave me this familiar feeling. It soothed me, in a way. The rain added to that feeling. Perhaps it had something to do with Yamatai?

"So you've heard nothing from Harry Thompson since?" Jonah asked.

"No." Lara said. "We've tried calling him countless times the past few days, but nothing. I don't understand what's going on. Though, I feel like it has something to do with this Conner guy, who approached Sam." I just looked at Lara, as I wasn't completely following the conversation. Despite the fact we made up, I still felt weird about what happened. Lara kissing a girl, the talk we had, the argument we had. I didn't know how to act around her before, now it only got worse.

"And the company he worked for?" Jonah asked.

"Called them, too." Lara continued. "They said it's classified. Even for me. The morons." It was cute when Lara talked like that. I almost went in another Lara-trance when I was startled by a knock on the front doors of the restaurant.

"Expecting company?" I asked confused.

"No." Said Jonah who looked even more confused than I probably did. I looked at the doors. They were made almost entirely of glass, but I couldn't see who it was due to the rainy dark night. I stood up and walked towards the doors. "Hey, little bird, let me open up." Jonah said.

"I'm fine." I snarled at him. "I can open doors." Jonah sat back down as I walked towards the doors and opened them. Connor Bennet stood in front of me.

"Mind if I come in?" He said. I just stared at him in shock. I heard Jonah getting up from his chair.

"Can I help you?" He asked as he joined me.

"Yes, please, would you mind if I come inside?"

"Depends." Jonah said. "What do you want?"

"Is that how you treat your customers?"

"You don't look like a customer."

"I have something to discuss. With all three of you."

"Which is?"

"Please?" Connor said as he made a gesture to step inside. Jonah looked at him for a few seconds and then stepped aside. "Thank you very much." Connor stepped inside and took off his coat. The water drops were running down his bald head. Jonah gestured him to take a seat at our table.

"I am Connor Bennet." He started right away. "I am sure Miss Nishimura has already talked about me." He smiled towards me.

"Yes." Lara said. "What do you want from us?"

"We need your help." Connor said.

"To retrieve a stone in the Amazon rainforest, right? Sure when does the plane leave?" I said sarcastically.

"Yes, that." Connor nodded his head. It's a very long story. First, let me first introduce myself. I am Connor Bennet and I work for the TAFDI. The Trinity Archeology Findings and Discovery Institute. We-..."

"Were you involved in the cover up of Yamatai?" Lara interrupted.

"We are a very large institute, Miss Croft. In all honestly, I couldn't tell you if TAFDI was involved. It they were, they wouldn't have told me."

"So, that's a politically correct yes, then?" Jonah said.

"Again, I can't tell. I would've told you if I knew." He then looked at Lara. "Though, I am very sorry that happened. I can understand the frustration."

"But you still need our help." Lara said.

"Yes, that is correct. Again, it's a very long story, I'd gladly-..."

"Then cut it short." Lara said. "Very short." Connor nodded.

"It's a good idea if you would meet with my superior, who can explain everything to you. Short, long, easy, complicated, anything you want."

"Why should we trust you?" I asked.

"We can meet in a public place."

"That's an evasive answer." Lara said.

"Well, Miss Croft." Connor said as he was getting a bit annoyed. "Perhaps this is a way to reclaim the reputation you've lost."

"Who says I care about reputation?"

"Maybe you don't care about your own, but you do care about your family's reputation."

"That's-..." Lara said, but was interrupted.

"There's a seminar in two days." Connor continued. "in London. It would be a good idea to attend this seminar." He put down a pamphlet with information about the seminar on the table. "All three of you. Even if you decide not to help us, I am sure we have some information regarding Yamatai that would be of interest to you." We all looked at the pamphlet in silence. This was so odd. It was so out of the blue and overwhelming. I looked at Lara, and I could see her think about the situation. "I understand this can be a bit too much and all of a sudden." Connor continued, as if he had read my mind. "But you didn't expect to make such a huge discovery, and then continue your life as if nothing happened, right? Look, there's no harm in joining the seminar. And if not, well then we'll have to find another way."

"To make us join you?" Jonah asked.

"No." Connor tried to put up a friendly smile. "Another way of retrieving the stone." He got up from his chair and put on his coat. "I won't bother you people any longer. I do wish I can welcome you at the seminar soon." He made his way towards the doors.

"Why is the stone so important to you?" Lara asked.

"Come to the seminar and we will explain everything." He said without turning around. He opened the doors and left.


	6. A short seminar

"_I will kill you." One of Matthias his followers said. "I will murder you if you don't listen to me. Slit your little throat and let you bleed out like a sheep." I looked around me to see if I could get away but all I could see was darkness. Just black, nothingness. "Open your mouth, bitch."_

"_FUCK YOU!" I yelled and violently tried to get away. I couldn't, though. I was held down by something. No ropes, hands, or chains, just... something. A force. I couldn't move._

"_C'mon, princess." Another man said. "Let's make this easy for everyone." The man was dirty. Not just his clothes, but his odor too, and his face and hair. Everything was absolutely disgusting. A few other men standing around me couldn't stop laughing. I closed my eyes as I felt the tears run over my cheeks, but it didn't help because the inside of my eyelids were as dark as the nothingness around me._

The Croft manor felt safe. It felt secure. It felt impenetrable, to be honest. I knew it wasn't actually impenetrable, but it _felt_ like it. I never used to liked large, fenced off houses, but since Yamatai… It was just good being here and knowing no person could just walk up to the house and break down the front door. There wasn't some lousy, half asleep, overweight guard reading some magazine near the front gate. No, we bought services from S-Tec, the absolute top when it comes to security in Great Britain. This was the same company who provided security for the CEO's of the most controversial company's in the country. The guard next to the gate was ex-military. Same as the two other guards patrolling the gardens around the house, working in 8 hour shifts. All three of them were holding fucking assault rifles. Do you know much you can get away with if you're rich? A lot, I can tell you. And S-Tec didn't just supply some guards, no no. The alarm system was not only directly in contact with local police, but with S-Tec, as well. They said they'd have an armed response rate of under two minutes. It sounded infeasible, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to find out. Hell, S-Tec sounded like a private military company. The only thing Lara didn't agree on was camera's inside. She said she wanted to maintain our privacy. No guards, nor camera's inside the house. I guess that was fair of her. And she was probably right. I was just glad I got Lara to fund the security outside. I could've asked my dad, since Lara still isn't too keen on spending any money from her fortune, but I knew what he would say; _If you want to be safe, come back to Japan and live with me._ Blah, blah. I asked Lara for the additional guards the moment we came back from Brighton. I just felt so uneasy, even more than usual. She said she understood and made the call. 1,5 hours later and the guards were here.

This so called seminar would be on Monday, which would give me the entire weekend to think about whether or not we should go. I decided, however, to not think about anything today. This Saturday would be about nothing. Just Lara and me here, in this house. I'd probably hit the sauna, and afterwards the pool or jacuzzi. I finished unpacking the bag I took to Brighton and left my room. I stood in the hallway, which overlooked the large living area in the middle of the mansion. I took a right and went to the library to look for Lara, but she wasn't there. That means she can only be at one place; the gym. I contemplated joining her, but convinced myself to swim a few more laps in the pool after the sauna. Plus, I much prefer having a run outside to stay in shape rather than workout indoors. I did decide to go to check up on Lara, though. You should see Lara while she's working out, damn... I made my way to the other side of the house and entered the gym. The gym was huge, about 250 square meters. And it had everything, from a climbing wall, to treadmills, to gymnastic bars. I stood in the door opening and immediately saw Lara. She was doing pull ups on one of the gymnastic bars. I knew what was waiting for me, when I went looking for her but… wow. She was wearing black spandex shorts, black sneakers, fingerless gloves and a pink sports bra. Each time I saw her scarcely dressed like that, it reinforced my theory that Lara was actually a genetically engineered girl, with a sole purpose on this earth to arouse humanity. Perhaps for world peace or something. Honestly, she is just indescribable. People on the street would see her flawless face, and perhaps had the slightest idea of her body, but...no. Her body was pure perfection, I thought, as I looked at her body going up and down. Her arms were thin, but when flexed, showed muscles. Same as her completely flat stomach. Toned and feminine. With her beautiful c cup breasts above it, tightly tucked in that sports bra. And her legs, real long climbing legs. Again, feminine but toned. And not to speak about her tight ass, Jesus Christ. I envied her willpower to work so hard for that body. Although, I knew she didn't do it to show off to anyone. And to top it all off, her cheeks were red from effort, and she was drenched in sweat. I followed a sweat drop roll down her ribcage, sidelong her belly button, which finally faded away on her shorts. Okay, time to look away. I stepped outside the gym area and leaned against the wall. _This was getting really bad, I shouldn't think this way. She's my best friend. Stop it, Sam, stop it. What if she found out? What would she say? Perhaps I should just tell her? I probably should because the way how it's going now, she's bound to find out. _Just as I wanted to walk away and reassess the situation, Lara stepped through the door opening and looked at me. She had her towel around her shoulders and was holding a bidon.

"What are you doing here?" She frowned.

"Spying on you." I smiled while she laughed. "I was wondering if we could have a talk today. You know where we left off in the restaurant?"

"Now?" She pressed her lips together.

"Yes. Please. Can we?"

"Yeah... of course. I'll take a shower and I'll meet you in the living room?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Give me 15 minutes. I'll be right back." Lara said as she walked away.

"Tea?" I yelled after her. She agreed by putting up her thumb.

I handed Lara her tea as she sat down with me on the couch. She had changed back to her usual attire; cargo pants and tank top. I still felt a bit flustered about looking at her in the gym.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes, I am." She said slightly surprised. "Why?"

"Because of what happened, you know, with Yamatai being covered up, and your family name getting dragged through the dirt. I've read some more articles online and-..."

"I thought we were talking about where we stopped in the restaurant?"

"I know." I said as I looked down. "I just feel like… I don't know, I feel really bad for you, Lara. With everything that has happened. I mean, I know you, and I have a feeling the thing that bothers you most these days is your tainted family name."

"I think you're making it sound worse than it actually is." Lara said, slightly frustrated. "Fine, Yamatai is being covered up by this Trinity organisation, God knows why, but it's not that bad. People will just think I misstepped, it's not that big of a deal."

"People died, Lara." I looked her in her eyes.

"Who's side are you on?" She asked.

"Yours, of course. I'm just telling you what the public might think."

"To hell with the public." Lara looked away.

"I was just asking, Lara, I _am_ on your side. You know that, right?." I tried to smile.

"I know." She looked at me again, and did smile.

"And you know I love you, right?" I said. She grinned. It felt good saying that, although I couldn't shake the feeling that I might have said it in a slightly different way than Lara perceived.

There was a silence for a couple of minutes where we drank our tea. It wasn't awkward or anything. We just sat next to each other, letting our thoughts run about. I looked at her for a bit until she looked at me back.

"You said the reason you wake up at night was me." I said. Her smile promptly disappeared. "Back in the restaurant before we were interrupted." She mumbled something.

"Tell me." I said.

"It's hard to explain." She said. I was insanely curious what she was thinking.

"C'mon." I put my hand on hers and looked her in the eyes.

"Sometimes things aren't always what they seem, Sam."

I frowned. "A little more vague than that and you might win an award or something." Lara looked away, pondering.

"I told you it's hard to explain." She said.

"But you can try a little harder than that. What exactly keeps you up at night? Is it something I do at night? Do I make any sounds? Perhaps you keep thinking about me? What is it?"

"I worry about you."

"Oh, please."

"What?" She said, almost offended. "I wasn't the only one at that island, you know?"

"You have had it far worse on Yamatai than me."

"Says who?"

"Says me, look at what you went through. Compared to me-..."

"It's not a competition, Sam." She interrupted me.

"Please, just tell me what exactly keeps you up at night. Am I the cause of those nightmares you have? Am I the reason you are feeling like you do?"

"I feel happy around you, so yes, you're the reason I feel like I do."

"You know what I meant." I said.

"Do you think we should go to that seminar?"

"Don't change the subject!" I snarled at her.

"You don't ever have nightmares?" Lara asked.

"No. Well not that I recall, anyway." I answered, trying to think back if I could remember any nightmare. I couldn't, actually. I couldn't recall a single nightmare since we got off the island. Which was weird, because it's not like I never had nightmares about anything before.

"Yeah, maybe you don't recall them."

"Well, let's say I did have nightmares but I don't recall them, why would that be an issue?"

"Not saying it's an issue, Sam. I'm just worried about you, okay?" She put her hand on my shoulder.

"And that's what keeps you up at night? Honestly?"

"Yes, of course. Why is that weird?"

"It's not." I looked away. "It's not weird. Just know that I'm totally fine."

"Okay then." She smiled at me. Her smile was so cute. I couldn't resist smiling back. "So, was that all you wanted to talk to me about? I really need to refresh my memory on anything that has to do with the Amazon. Perhaps in link with Yamatai. I do recall a sort of manuscript that describes a man that discovers a mine, his wife was Japanese, so who knows." I just grinned at her while she talked. It was amazing how much she could talk about her passion. She would just get sucked into her own little world. I kind of wished I had a passion like that.

"Well." I interrupted her. "You still haven't told me how it was."

"How what was?" Lara asked confused.

"You know, kissing that mohawk chick. You know you are totally out of her league, right?" I said grinning. Lara buried her face in her palms.

"Oh, please. Let's not talk about that." She begged.

"Oh, c'mon, you can tell me. Did you like it?" I gently poked her ribs. I was pretending to be making fun at her, but I was genuinely interested in whether she liked it or not. Lara making out with a girl? As far as I knew, that was a world's first. Here's hoping it wasn't a world's last.

"I...I-I don't know, Sam." She said as she slouched on the couch. "I guess it was okay. Honestly, though, I can't remember much anyway." I could see her cheeks getting bright red.

"Oh, you are so cute!" I gave her a quick hug. "Just so you know, it was super hot."

"Yeah, okay, then. I think we're done talking."

"Wait, wait." I held her by her arm before she could get off the couch. "In all seriousness, why did you do it? I've seen you drunk before, but you never kissed someone out of drunkenness, let alone a girl."

"I don't know, really. I promise you it was nothing, don't look for stuff that isn't there. She kissed me, and I was too drunk to stop her."

"Fine." I laughed. "Well, I am sorry about what I said in the hotel, though. I'll keep my nose out of that kind of business."

"You don't have to!" Lara said suddenly as she turned to me. "That's okay, really. I just… I don't know, okay? It's like…"

"Don't worry. You don't have to explain to me."

"But I want to." She said.

"Then do it when you're ready for it, okay?" I said. She smiled at me. "Now, go read your century old books. The interrogation is over. I'll be here if you need me."

"Don't forget." Lara said as she got up the couch and started walking away. "It's pizza and movie night tonight, your turn to order!"

The rest of the day by as usual. I still got my jacuzzi and swim session, and spend the rest of the afternoon watching TV. In the evening we ordered pizza and watched movies until midnight. It was all just normal, like in the past. It made me wish that things would just like they were before. That that TAFDI guy never showed up, because no matter how I felt about it, I knew Lara had an insatiable hunger to go. She would want to know what the hell was up, and I knew, deep inside, she was hoping we'd go to the Amazon and discover this so called stone. She hid it from me, because she knew how I felt about it. I thought it was a horrible idea to go. I wouldn't ever want to be put in a situation like Yamatai again. But I couldn't do that to Lara. So, I'd go with her to the seminar. I mean, what is the worst that could happen? We're only visiting a seminar in a public place. If we then decided that we wouldn't go, then we wouldn't. Simple as that. Right?

"Let's not get pulled over again." I said as I got in the passenger's seat of the Audi RS6. We just had dinner and we were, of course, on our way to the seminar. Jonah couldn't come because of his restaurant. I was pretty nervous about it, and I could see Lara being a bit restless, as well. Why wouldn't she be? _I am sure we have some information regarding Yamatai that would of interest to you._ Connor had said. How could they, whoever the hell they might be, have more information about Yamatai than the people who lived it?

"I am sure we'll be fine." Lara said, as serious as ever. Lara spent the entire weekend digging up old books about the Amazon, studying them and try and find a link to Yamatai. I, myself, spent the entire Sunday worrying about what was going to happen today. I also spent quite some time searching the internet for some information about Trinity, but I was unable to find anything at all. The engine roared once more as the gate was opened by one of the S-Tec guards. I quickly glanced at him as we drove by, off the long driveway and onto the road, and he nodded at me. I was glad we had this kind of protection around the house, but something was a bit eery about the guards. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I'm sure it had something to do with how they looked at me. They always looked right through me, past my eyes, past my soul. It was as if they'd seen so much horror in their lives, they couldn't possibly care about anything, or anyone, else except their job. I hope Lara would never be like that.

"Where was it again?" I asked as I looked outside. It was still light outside, but the darkness would soon return.

"Kingstreet."

"So the Hilton hotel?" I looked at Lara.

"Yeah, the Hilton hotel." She said. I grabbed my phone to check Facebook, but quickly closed it again after a few meaningless notifications. I didn't even _really _knew anyone on there. Not anymore, anyway. I checked my e-mail inbox, which had a few unread messages in them.

"Maybe you should have a talk with those people. You know, to clear things up." I said.

"The reporters?" Lara asked.

"Yeah. I mean, now they're just speculating."

"You think they'd even believe me?" She frowned as she quickly glanced at me.

"Not if you tell the entire story. But, you know, tell them it _is _actually Yamatai."

"Even if I only told them that, and leave the whole zombie queen part out, people would still call me crazy." I could hear the hopelessness in her voice. "Plus, I want to see what these Trinity people are about before I would even consider talking to the press. They might be trouble."

"Might be?" I asked sarcastically.

"You know, serious trouble."

"If they manage to cover up something as big as Yamatai, they _are _serious trouble, Lara." I said, but Lara didn't respond. I knew she was trying to rationalize everything, as she always did. Plus, she probably didn't want to put Trinity into too much of a negative light, or convincing me to go would be impossible. I already set my mind on not going, though.

We parked in a street nearby so we had to walk a few minutes before we got to the hotel. Luckily, it was still summer and the temperature was bearable, but it started g. The Hilton hotels will always look fancy to you, no matter how many times you've been there. I had been there a lot, with my dad, but it never ceased to amaze me. They really did a good job of making you feel like a VIP in there. We were greeted by the red carpet as we made our way to the reception.

"We're here for the uh...seminar?" I asked. I show the lady behind the reception desk the pamphlet Connor had given us.

"The conference rooms are to the left, ma'm." The lady said as she pointed down the hallway to our left. "I wouldn't know what TAFDI is, but there's an unnamed seminar in the third door on your left." She smiled as I thanked her. Lara and me made our way through the hallway as we reached the third door on our left. The receptionist was right, as it had a sign _Seminar_ on it. Just as the Lara wanted to open the door, it swung open. Connor was standing in the door opening.

"Ladies." He did his best to smile. "Glad you could come. Please, come in, it's about to start." He said as he stepped aside. We walked in the room. There were several rows of chairs pointing to the front where a small podium was situated. It seemed we were the only ones, as all the chairs were empty.

"Not a large turn up." Lara mentioned to Connor as he walked us to our seats.

"Seems there's not a lot of interest for an island in the middle of the ocean." He laughed. He sat us down at the front row and asked us if we wanted anything to drink. We politely declined. This felt so weird. I wanted to leave and go home. I wanted to forget everything about this. About Yamatai. But I promised myself I'd sit through this. For Lara.

"This feels odd." Lara said. "Really odd."

"Glad I'm not the only one that thinks that." I said relieved. We looked around us, but Connor had left and there was no one to see in the entire room. "Now what?" I asked.

"Now we leave." Lara said as she got up.

"Really? Are you sure? What about the seminar?"

"Screw the seminar, this doesn't feel right at all. Let's just go." She didn't have to say that again. I quickly got off my chair and followed her. I half expected someone to stop us before we got to the door, but we made it. I looked behind me once more, to ease my paranoia as Lara opened the door. Just as we were about to step through, a man, who had been standing just outside, stepped in front of us and stopped us in our tracks.

"It's best if you stay inside." The man said. The man was huge, not fat, just tall and muscled. He had a black suit with a black tie on and he was bald.

"No." Lara said. "It's best if we go home now." And she wanted to walk past him. But the man held out his arm which stopped Lara. He then opened one side of his suit which revealed the gun the man had in his belt.

"Please, take a seat inside." He said again. He actually looked quite friendly, for some reason. But that didn't prevent my heart for beating in my throat. I expected bad things to happen, but we were 5 minutes in and we were already being threatened by a man with a gun. I looked at Lara who was looking directly at the man. I could see how she was already planning her next move. She turned around to face me and looked at me. She was so focused, no sign of stress, anger or fear. Just pure readiness. _Run_ is what she motioned with her lips without making a sound. Where the hell would I run to? Past the guy and have him shoot me? Or back to my seat? What good would that do? My question was answered by Lara who plunged her elbow in the man his crotch. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Within a second he lay flat on the floor in fetal position, his hands where Lara her elbow just landed. Before I could react, or even realised what exactly was going on, Lara grabbed me by my arm and pulled me away. Reality hit me and I managed to run after Lara going through the hallway. I heard the man behind us shouting something, probably through a radio or something, to his buddies. My heart was racing as we sprinted past some people in the hallway, who slowly shook their heads at us.

"Hurry!" Lara yelled as we pushed through the doors going outside. We quickly ran off towards the street where we were parked. Within seconds I heard several men pushing through the same doors behind us.

"Stop them!" I heard one of them shout. I ran as fast as I could, but there was no way I could keep up with Lara, not even with the adrenaline shot I got. I knew she wasn't even running as fast as she could, so I could _kind of _keep up with her. I was scared, _so _scared. I wanted to be away from those men, as fast as possible. What the hell did they want from us? What did we even do wrong? I didn't want them to catch me. What were they going to do to me if they catched me?

"C'mon!" Lara shouted as we made it to the street where the car was parked. The footsteps behind me told me the men weren't far behind. I sprinted after Lara and was desperately looking where exactly the car was parked, but luckily the headlights lit up when Lara unlocked the car with the remote. I was absolutely sure they would catch up with me the moment I opened the car door. Fortunately, they didn't and I lunged my body inside. My knees landed in the chair as I faced backwards. Lara started the car and immediately floored it. The g-force of the car accelerating made me unable to turn around right away. I didn't even have time to close the door, and it incidentally rammed into one of the men running towards the car, which slammed it shut. I looked with complete shock as the man flung aside and his lifeless body just lied there on the street. It was now somewhat dark, but I could clearly see the body as a nearby lamp post illuminated him slightly. The car beeped, because we weren't wearing our seat belts, but that was the least of our concerns right now. As Lara made a sharp turn right, I managed to turn around and sit down.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" I yelled, completely out of breath, trying desperately to buckle up my seatbelt. "You think we lost them?" Lara looked in the rear view mirror. She didn't even seem to have broken a sweat, which was remarkable.

"Probably not." She said. I looked in the side view mirror and I could see two headlights keeping up with us, swirling through London traffic at about double the speed limit. I held the leather seat with both hands so hard I almost felt sorry for it. I looked at the oncoming cars and held my breath until I couldn't anymore. Everytime Lara almost hit a car, I flinched. Everything was going so quickly, I could only see the head- and tail lights fly by.

"Maybe we should just surrender! Maybe they won't hurt us!" I yelled as the car roared through another red light. Lara didn't even answer me. She didn't have to, I probably wasn't thinking straight. I just didn't want to end up dead in a pile of creased metal. A car honked at us as we cut it off to avoid a frontal collision with another car in the other lane. I looked behind us, but unfortunately the car was still there. After a few minutes, and countless of near crashes and screams, we got on the freeway, which was relieving, considering the situation. I knew how fast this car could go, so maybe we could lose them. The traffic wasn't too bad, fortunately, which was a straight up miracle. Lara floored it, and even though we were already going about 80 MPH, I was still pushed back in the leather seat. Within seconds we were going over 130 MPH and I saw the cars on the other lane whiz by as if they were standing still.

"Seatbelt!" I yelled at Lara, terrified of the thought what would happen to her if we crashed at this speed and she wasn't wearing one. She held the wheel with one hand, and buckled up. The next thing I felt were little pieces of glass in my neck as the back window was shot out by a couple of bullets. Lara let go of the gas in a reflex.

"They're shooting at us!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Why the fuck were they shooting at us? What was wrong with them?!

"Stay down!" Lara shouted and I lowered my self as far as I could and put my arms over my head. I heard several more bullets made impact with the body of the car. She put down the pedal again, but the other car had already caught up to us. Their car wasn't a slow one either. I let out a sharp scream as they rammed us in the back. It made Lara lose control of the car. She wanted to correct it, but it was too late. We hit a car in the lane next to ours and I was suddenly looking at the world spinning in front of me. Airbags deployed from places I would've never guessed even contained airbags, as we spun into the guardrail, which left me deafened as the car scraped to a halt. My entire body was shaking. _Notifying emergency services of our current location _said a female voice over the car stereo. I was about to check if Lara was okay when I noticed the headlights from the corner of my eye. Our car was hit again, this time so hard I was knocked out flat.

I heard a beeping of the car when I woke up again. My ears were ringing and I had a sharp pain in my head. My vision was blurry, and all I could see was the cracked windshield. It smelled like burned rubber in the car. I could barely move my arm up to my head, God my head hurt so bad. What the hell happened?

"Are you okay?" A man suddenly asked. The window on the door was completely gone. He tried to open the door but it was jammed. I just looked at him, but couldn't say a word. I was just too dazed. I shook my head at him, but wasn't really sure why. Everything hurt so bad. When I looked to my side, I was pulled back to reality. My body filled itself with adrenaline once more when I saw Lara unconsciously next to me. Her head hung forward and little strands of her hair were stuck to her cheeks by the blood running over her face. I reached for her, but my seat belt wouldn't give. I tried to unbuckle it, but it was stuck, so I tried to pull it off. Obviously to no avail.

"Help her! I'm fine, just help her, please!" I yelled at the man who was still trying to get the door on my side open. He looked past me. He promptly went around the car and pulled on the door. Luckily her door opened. The man put two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse. "Is she okay?!" I screamed. "Please, tell me! Is she okay?!"

"I don't know!" The man was panicking. I felt the tears run over my cheeks. Oh my God, if Lara isn't okay…

"Do something…" I tried to yell but I couldn't anymore. The adrenaline wore off and I felt my body get weak again. Shit, not now. I heard faint sirens getting louder as more people gathered around the car. Two more tried to pull my door open, but I didn't see much more after that. My eyelids were too heavy. I just _had _to close them. Slowly I felt myself slipping away.

I awoke once more to a beeping sound. And my head still hurt like never before. I looked around as I regained my vision, although it was still blurry. I saw there were some things attached to my arms, which made me realise the beeping sound was a heart monitor I was attached to. Apparently, I was in a hospital. I spent a few minutes getting my bearings back when a nurse walked in.

"It's good to see you're up." She said as she checked my signs. "Take it easy, you had a pretty bad hit. Luckily, there's no real damage to you. Also, there is someone to see you." She smiled.

"Lara?" I asked. Her smile disappeared and she turned around. She walked towards the door and held it open for someone. A Japanese man stepped inside. He was around 50 years old was wearing a black suit with a red tie.

"Hello." He said smiling. I looked at him dumbfounded.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Someone who has been dying to meet you."


	7. Lara

"Again, who the hell are you?"

"I'm Mitsuo Mitani, it truly is a pleasure to meet you, Samantha. Can I call you Samantha?" The man said as he grabbed a chair and took a seat next to my bed. He looked at me as if he had never seen a girl in his life. "I hope you are not too much in pain? Also, we can talk in Japanese if you'd like."

"N-no, English is fine." Japanese would remind me of my dad too much. "And, I'm fine, just... my head hurts. Look, who are you? Your name doesn't help me. Why are you here?" I asked.

"Because I need your help. I can-..."

"Lara!" I interrupted him, as the horrifying image of Lara laying there unconsciously in her seat popped back in my mind. "Where's Lara?!" I wanted to get out of bed, but felt a sharp pain in my wrist when I tried to pull it away. I only now realised that I was handcuffed to the side of the bed with my left arm. "What the fuck is this? Why am I handcuffed? Where is Lara?!" I panicked. Who was this man? Did he do something to Lara? And why on earth was I handcuffed to the bed? Was this Mitani guy one of the men who chased us?

"Calm down, Samantha. Your friend is fine." Mitsuo said. He got up and signaled for me to calm down and stay on the bed.

"Uncuff me, you asshole!" I screamed. "Why the fuck am I handcuffed?!"

"Please, it was just a precaution. If you can promise me to stay calm I will have it removed."

"No! I will not stay calm!" I yelled so loud my own ears hurt.

"If you do, I will tell you anything you want to know about your dear friend." Mitsuo said back down and crossed his legs.

"Fine, you dick." I growled at him and lied back down.

"There's no need to be hostile towards me, Samantha, I'm on your side. Now, your friend, Miss Croft, is fine, as I said. She's in the room next to this one. She'll recover just fine."

"I want to see her." I demanded.

"Soon, not yet. Let's have a little talk first."

"Fuck you. I'm not having a _little talk _with you first." I said as I was making air quotes.

"Understood." Mitsuo said as he got up and made his way towards the door. "Then I shall leave you here, come back in an hour or two and try again."

"You can't leave me here!" I yelled, shocked at even the idea of being in here for another two hours, not knowing what was going on with Lara.

"Yes, I certainly can. Would you like me to show you?" As he opened the door.

"No! No…" I said, defeated. "Fine, we'll have your stupid fucking talk. But after that I'll need to see Lara."

"Everything in time." Mitsuo said as he closed the door. "First off, my apologies for how my men approached the situation." He said as he made a gesture to point out I was in a hospital. He sat back down and took a good look at me.

"So, those were your men. Who chased us and crashed us off the road."

"Yes, so my apologies for that, but, lucky for them, those men are dead now."

"What? Lucky for them? Why?" I asked surprised.

"All three of them died on impact with the truck they hit."

"But… they hit our car? And why is that lucky for them?"

"Yes, and because of that they swirled to the other side of the road into an oncoming truck. They are lucky they died there and then, as my punishment for them would have been far more severe than dead. Fortunately, as I said, you, and your friend, have sustained no permanent or heavy damage. I told my men to bring you to me, not push you off the road at high speed."

"They fucking shot at us."

"Again, they are lucky they are dead." He said as he patted his leg to remove a fluff that had attached to his suit pants. "Now." He continued. "Let me explain to you why I exactly I need your help."

"Oh, the stone, I bet? Please, enlighten me." I said sarcastically, as I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, the stone. A stone similar to the one you retrieved from Yamatai."

"I didn't retrieve a stone from Yamatai." I said frowning. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you didn't _on purpose_, anyway. I am sure you remember the ritual that this Solarii cult man exposed you to?"

"Hard to forget. Wait… how do you know about this ritual?" I asked, frowning.

"Right. And what were you wearing during that ritual? The one where your friend saved your life."

"No, wait, how do you know about this ritual? We haven't told anyone, because we were told not to by Harry Thompson."

"I have my sources, Samantha, trust me. By the way, that Harry Thompson figure was quite willingly to keep any information to himself with the right persuasion."

"You… killed him?" I asked slowly.

"No!" Mitsuo said as he waved his hand at me. "What kind of animal do you think I am? No, Harry kept quiet because he knew it was the best thing to do."

"And why is that?"

"We will get to that later. Now, about that ritual, what were you wearing?"

"What kind of weird, perverted question is that?" I asked, while making a disgusted face. It wasn't _that _disgusting, but I wanted to nag this man as much as I could.

"A robe and a tiara, right?" Mitsuo asked, completely ignoring my remark.

"Yes…" I raised my eyebrows. "What are you getting at?"

"Where is that tiara now?" Mitsuo asked. I saw the corner of his mouth lift a little as he couldn't contain smiling just a little bit.

"It's…" I thought back to the ritual. That horrible ritual, that horrific experience. I was never able to quite explain it, how I felt back then. Not even to myself. The way that Himiko penetrated my soul and body, gave a feeling I will never ever be able to shake off. Mitsuo was right, though, I _was _wearing a tiara. It was quite a beautiful tiara, to be honest. When we were making our way down to Reyes and Jonah, after Lara heroically saved me, it fell of my head. I had picked it up and looked at it, as I hadn't seen it before. It was so beautiful I decided to take it with me. When we got on the containership, I put it in my bag. I later realised, however, I wouldn't want anything to remind of that island, so I decided to throw it away. When I wanted to grab it from my bag, it was gone.

"Yes?" Mitsuo asked impatiently.

"I lost it."

"No, it was taken from you." He reached inside his pocket and pulled out that very same tiara. I looked at it with awe. Even though I wore that thing when a zombie queen tried to take over my body, I didn't feel bad seeing it. Hell, it was still as beautiful as I remembered. Perhaps even more so.

"You stole it from me." I said as I sat up straight, as far as my handcuffed hand let me.

"Correct. Well, not me personally, but one of my colleagues." He got up and handed me the tiara. It was so beautifully made. It was so weird, because I felt a huge attraction to it. I felt like I had to take it. Hide it from this man so I could take it home myself. It was the same feeling I had on Yamatai when I first saw it. "You see the engraved stone on the front?" Mitsuo asked. I did. It was a white stone, which was engraved in the middle of the tiara. The stone felt rough, even though it looked perfectly smooth. I'd seen it before, but didn't think too much of it.

"This is the stone you're talking about? The one I apparently took?" I asked as Mitsuo pulled the tiara from my hands, to my dismay.

"Yes." He put the tiara back in his pocket.

"What's so special about it? Are you some sort of deranged stone collector who collects the weirdest stones from the most remote places?"

"Not quite. This stone has some unique powers."

"What powers?"

"Powers that will only work at its place of origin."

"And where is that?" I asked.

"Yamatai."

"So...what kind of powers?" I asked intrigued. Normally, I would be a bit more skeptical, but this man apparently had his sources.

"You witnessed them." Mitsuo said. I frowned. What did he mean, I witnessed them?

"Wait…" I said as it dawned on me. "The storms...and everything, that was that stone?" I pointed at his pocket.

"Yes." He said firmly.

"I don't believe you." I crossed my arms.

"Fair enough. I guess that an ancient being trying to take over your body as it made thunderstorms appear makes a whole lot more sense." I looked at him angry, but he made a fair point.

"Okay, let's say this stone does have powers, I am guessing there's another one in the Amazon?" I asked.

"Yes."

"And you want me to get it?" I frowned.

"Yes." Mitsuo repeated.

"What is so special about those stones?"

"Combined they are able to operate outside of their place of origin. We want to retrieve these stones before someone else does, and uses them for evil."

"And you won't use them for evil, _of course_." I said sarcastically.

"No, our organisation is determined to keep these kind of powers contained and shielded from evil minds."

"Right. Though, why me? Why can't you just go get it yourself?" I asked. Mitsuo paused, perhaps contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to tell me or not.

"Because you're the only one who can."

"You're not making any sense. Why not just explain it a bit more detail so I don't have to say _what _all the time?" I said. Mitsuo looked at the floor, and then at me again.

"You're a blood relative of Himiko. That is why she spared you. During the storms, during the fire ritual, during the ascending ritual. That is why you could take the stone. Only a blood relative can take the stone from its place of origin."

"What does that have to do with the Amazon rainforest? Pretty sure I'm not related to anyone there."

"No, but Himiko was."

"So…?" I was getting a bit annoyed, what was he getting at? Mitsuo looked at his watch and promptly stood up from his chair.

"So, we believe Himiko transferred some of her DNA onto you, which, in turn, makes you a relative."

"A relative of Himiko? Jesus fucking Christ, you're confusing the hell out of me. I was already a relative of Himiko!"

"Right. But not of this..." He paused. "..person in the Amazon, though, Himiko was. In a way. And since she probably transferred some of her DNA onto you, that makes you connected of this person, as well, because Himiko was."

"You _believe?_ As in you're not even sure about it?" I asked in shock.

"We're fairly confident." Miuso said.

"What happens if someone who's not a blood related or connected takes the stone?"

"Varies, really." He said as he looked to the ceiling to think. "We've tried a few times and some die from an instant heart attack, or they go insane and kill themselves. We had one guy who combusted into flames." He summed up using his fingers. I could just look at him with my mouth open.

"Don't worry, we're positive this will work."

"Yeah, right. And if I decide not to come?"

"You're a smart girl, Samantha. I'm sure you'll make the right decision. If not, well, we will have to think of something else. Either way, we will talk later this week, I have some important business to attend to." He started walking towards the door.

"Wait!" I yelled at him. "What do you mean later this week?" Mitsuo turned around and looked at me. "Couldn't you tell us this without have your men shoot at us? That Connor guy, couldn't he have just told us?!"

"First off, I never ordered my men to shoot at you. Secondly, I wanted to thoroughly explain you every single detail, back at the seminar, so you understand why it's absolutely vital you come along. But, things didn't go as I had planned, so this is the short version. See you in a week, Samantha." He said as he opened the door, left and shut it behind him. I sat there for a few minutes, dumbfounded at what this man had just told me, until I realised he hadn't untied me yet.

"Hey! You promised I could see Lara!" I yelled at the closed door as I rattled my handcuff. "Asshole!" Well, _shit_. I had so many questions going through my head, but they would have to wait. I needed to see Lara, _now._ I kept yelling and demanding someone should come free me, but no one showed up. I got off the bed on the left side, twisting my cuffed arm in a weird way. When I stood next to the bed I realised I was only wearing a hospital gown. I quickly lifted my collar and looked down. Awesome, no underwear. I threw a quick glance around the room, and saw my clothes neatly folded on a small table in the corner. Would my phone still be in my pocket? If it did, do I call the police or what? I tried pulling on the railing of the bed to see if it was movable, but it was mounted to the ground. If I stretched my arms as far as I could, I still missed a few inches before I could reach my clothes. I looked around the bed to see if I could see anything to free myself with, but there was nothing. I was getting increasingly frustrated as every second passed. Seconds where I wasn't able to see if Lara was okay. Or even alive. That thought sent a shiver down my spine.

"Fuck." I mumbled to myself. Why did we go to that fucking seminar? What good would it have done, even if we didn't get chased and shot at? Why was Lara so fucking curious all the time, Goddammit. I pulled my handcuff even harder, perhaps somehow hoping it would give way, but it only hurt my wrist even more.

After pulling, yelling and sighing for another good 10 minutes, I finally gave up. Just as I wanted to lay back on the bed, the door opened. Connor Bennet walked in the door, carrying a briefcase. His face was pale. Like really, _really _pale.

"What are you doing here? Can you please uncuff me, or at least tell me if Lara is okay?" I pleaded. Connor didn't respond and put down his briefcase on a table situated on the side of the room. I tried to look what was in the briefcase but couldn't see.

"What's that?" I asked nervously. Just as I asked that, Connor got out a syringe and small bottle with a yellowish fluid. He drained some of the fluid with the syringe. "Wait." I said, starting to panic. "What is that? What are you going to do with that?!" Connor still didn't respond as he walked towards me, still holding the syringe. "Please stop! Wait, please don't touch me!" I felt a constant chill over my spine, as goosebumps formed on my skin.

"It's okay, it's only to put you to sleep. Let's just get this over with, because one way or another this syringe will end up in your arm."

"Stop! Why?! Why do I need to go to sleep now? Fuck, what are you going to do to me?!" My heart was now pounding in my throat. I was panicking bad. My fight or flight instinct told me to either run away or punch that fucker in the face. Since I was still cuffed to the bed, it seemed I was about to some fucker face punching. Just as he stepped within my reach I swirled my arm towards him, but Connor casually dodged it. Luckily, however, he did stop and took a step backwards so he was no longer in my reach.

"Listen. I'm not going to touch you after you're out, okay? I won't do anything to you, nor will any of my colleagues. Now you can either stick out your arm so I can inject this into you, or I can do it forcefully. It's up to you." I started crying. Why was this man doing this to me? Why was _any _of this happening? I was so scared. I looked at Connor, and through my tears I could see he was dead serious. If he wanted to put that needle in my arm, it would end there one way or another. I had to face it, I was defeated.

"Fine." I said sobbing as I got back on the bed and stuck out my arm. "Just don't touch me, please." I begged. Connor stepped forward, grabbed my arm, and stuck the needle in. I expected to feel it immediately, but I didn't yet. "How long does it take before I feel anything."

"About a minute." Connor said as he walked back to his briefcase and put his equipment back. "Don't worry, no pain."

"Why can't you tell me anything about Lara?" I asked as I already started to feel drowsy.

"You'll see her soon." Connor promised. My vision, who had regained its full power only a few minutes ago, started to get blurry again. My arms and legs felt heavy, as if I was in one of those dreams where you weren't able to run away from whatever monster was chasing you. My eyelids started to get heavy, as well. I could just make out that Connor was standing next to my bed.

"Please… don't… touch…" I closed my eyes as I could no longer keep them open, despite how hard I tried.

"It'll be fine, I promise. You're safe." I wasn't even sure if Connor, or something inside my head said that. I just let the darkness come over me.

_Pictures of Lara. Pictures of us together. The trips we went on together. The trip in Bulgaria, that was just pure happiness. It's a happy place. It's vital that you come along. You can save the whole world if you come along. You'll be a hero, and so will Lara. Lara is your friend. Lara is your very best friend, and she's here for you. She's here to guide you through what you need to do. What you need to do in order to be a hero. In order to keep that stone from the grasp of evildoers. _

I opened my eyes to bright light. There were two people standing over me, but I couldn't make out who, the light was way too bright. I felt so weak.

"It's okay." One of them said. His voice was distorted. "Go back to sleep."

_I know you need Lara. That is why she is here. Right besides you. She will always, and always be on your side. To protect you. To guide you. And if you go to the Amazon, she will be right next to you. You're safe, and so is she. You're together. Can you imagine going to the Amazon? Together? It'll be like another adventure for you. You can prove yourself to Lara. Lara will always be next to you._

"Sam… Sam? Samantha, can you hear me?" I could hear him. Or her. Whoever it was. But I couldn't answer. I could only lay there and do nothing. It was all so hazy. It was as if the room was misty. And that was when I was able to keep my eyes open for longer than 2 seconds. "Listen, Sam, I need you to open your eyes and look at me. Can you do that, please?" I tried as hard as I could to keep my eyes open, but I couldn't. Slowly I drifted away once more.

_Lara is here. She's right here. Next to you. Waiting for you. Just for you, no one else. It is important that you know Lara is there for you. She will always be ready for you. Even in your darkest hours, Lara will be there, standing by your side._

"Sam?" A familiar voice said. "Sam, are you okay?" I couldn't quite hear who it was, but the voice was so familiar it warmed me up from the inside. I opened my eyes. I expected a bright light again, but the room was dimmed. "Sam, I'm here for you."


	8. Dreams

"_You know you can talk to me, right?" Lara said as she put her hand on my shoulder. I sat on one of the beds in the ship cabin, resting my head on my hands while my elbows rested on my knees. I felt the ship swaying left to right. Normally I wouldn't be bothered by it, I've been on countless boat trips. But now it did. It made me nauseous, very nauseous. Then again, at that moment everything did. I was repulsed by everything and everyone at that moment. Except by Lara. My heroine. I looked at her, and could see the worrying in her face. I didn't get it. She had to kill so many people, had to do so many horrible things, go through such horror and yet her she was worrying about me. Not about herself. Her wounds on her face, hands and arms, and probably everywhere else, were still fresh, but here she was making sure _I _was okay._

"_I know." I tilted my head and placed my cheek on her hand. "But I'm fine, really." I said._

"_You can't be fine after what you've been through, Sam." She said._

"_Can you?" I returned. She looked away, as I lifted up my head again. Even though she was here, worrying about me, I could see in her eyes that she was different. Different from what she was before we were stranded on Yamatai. No wonder, after what she's been through._

"_I guess not." Lara said. "But I know I have you to talk to, when I need to. Right?"_

"_Of course. Of course you do." I comforted her._

"_I need to ask you something, though." Lara suddenly said._

"_What?"_

"_What did they do to you? I mean, how did they treat you?"_

"_Other than trying to burn me alive, and offering my body for a long lost mentally insane queen?"  
_"_Yeah…"  
_"_Honestly, I can't remember that much. It's a all a haze, really."  
_"_That worries me." Lara said as she looked me in the eyes._

"_Why?" I asked. _

"_Just… no reason." She said as she looked away again._

I've never felt so weak in my life as I did when I opened my eyes again. The room was a lot more dimmed than before, but my eyes felt extremely dry, as did my mouth. I tried to look who was standing next to me, but I still wasn't able to identify people standing merely 3 foot away from my face. Not by face, nor by voice.

"How are you feeling?" The familiar voice asked. There was a constant ringing in my ears. I tried to talk, but I couldn't. Too dry, too weak. I wonder for how long I had been out. Judging by the amount of weird dreams I had, I'd say about eleven decades. "Can you hear me, Sam?" I slowly nodded my head in acknowledgement of the stranger her question. Was it Lara? It has to be Lara, she sounded so familiar. I tried to water my mouth with my saliva, but my mouth refused to produce any. I tried to lift up my arm which, to my greatest surprise, I was able to do. I pointed to my mouth, hoping the stranger would understand I was longing for water. "You need something to drink?" I tried to nod as quickly as my heavy head would let me, having never been so happy about the prospect of drinking a bit of water. I heard the stranger exit my room, as I tried to sit up straight. My vision was once again returning and I rubbed my eyes. I cursed the person who decorated the room for not putting a clock in. How late was it? I lifted up my left arm, to check if it was still cuffed to the railing of the bed, but it wasn't. Things were looking up for me, I told myself sarcastically. As the blurriness in my vision slowly went away, I looked around the room once more. My clothes were still in the same spot. I wanted to check if my phone was still in my pocket, but when I noticed how heavy and slow my legs were, I convinced myself to stay in a bit for just a bit longer. I wouldn't want to knock myself out on my way there by falling over. I switched my focus to the door, waiting for the stranger to come back. It must've been Lara, right? I mean, who else could it be that had such a familiar voice? I didn't really know anyone else, not these days, anyway. I was confined to the Croft manor, and Lara. Not that I minded really, but sometimes I couldn't help but miss some of my friends back in Japan. Or my family. It was hard to pretend I was really happy with how Lara and myself lived after Yamatai. Perhaps moving back to the manor wasn't the best idea, after all. The big building only echoed our loneliness. Echoed our need for help.

Just as I wanted to let my mind drift to the golden olden days, the door to my room opened again. My heart sank when I realised it wasn't Lara who stepped inside. It was that mohawk girl. It was Livia. The girl who had practically thrown herself on Lara her mouth. That bitch. Was she the familiar voice? How is that possible?

"What the hell are you doing here?" I was shocked at how much I sounded like 95 year old man. I coughed.

"I was in the neighbourhood." Livia said grinning, in her Austrian accent. This was the first time I got a good, sober, look at her. She was actually quite attractive, and pretty fit. I'd never seen a girl who sported a mohawk so well. She really dressed like a surfer girl, with her ragged capri jeans, t-shirt, slippers and a colorful, cheap, necklace. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean. But why on earth was she here?

"Bullshit, seriously, what the fuck is going on? And you said you were getting some water." I said, really needing some water. It felt like my throat hadn't been watered in a decade.

"You're right, that is bullshit." She laughed. "I was actually visiting Lara, but heard she was at the hospital, so I came here. Also, your water? No idea what you're talking about. First time I stepped foot in this room, Sam." She was visiting Lara? How did she know where she was? Did Lara tell her, and if she did, why? Oh my God, I really hope Lara wasn't into her.

"Who was in my room just now then?" I asked surprised.

"Hit your head _that _hard, huh? I don't know?" Livia shrugged. "Lara, perhaps? She isn't in her room." My heart started racing again. The fact she wasn't in the room next to mine meant she either left it because she was okay, or because they lied and she was never here. My eyes started to tear up. I decided to get out of bed and check my phone. I got out and managed to stumble to my jeans, but unfortunately my phone wasn't in there.

"Hey." Lara said. I quickly turned around and saw Lara had stepped inside and was standing behind Livia. Livia pretended she wasn't even there. I felt absolutely overjoyed as I saw Lara standing there smiling as she was holding a cup of water. _That _was the familiar voice I heard. My mind wasn't messing with me. I was so happy she was okay.

"Lara!" I yelled as I ran towards her. I wanted to give her a hug, but she held her hand up to stop me.

"Wait, Sam." She stroked her ribs with one hand, before I reached her. "My ribs are bruised, please no hugs yet, okay?" She stepped aside and walked to the movable table on the side of my bed, and put the cup of water on it. I hadn't even seen that table before. It was one of those movable things which you were able to position all the way up to your face when you were in bed, so you could eat from it. I looked surprised as I realised my phone was on it, as well.

"Okay…" I said a bit baffled. "How're you feeling? That was quite the crash."

"Have some water first." Lara smiled. She was right, I still sounded like an old man. I quickly walked towards the table, grabbed the cup and gulped the water down.

"Thanks." I said. The water worked miracles as I actually sounded like a female now. I looked at Lara and saw no sign of any wounds.

"So, how're you?"

"Pretty good, actually, all things considered." Lara smiled again. "How about you?"

"Little weak in the legs, and head but I'll be fine. Jesus Christ Lara, I am so extremely glad you are okay. I was so fucking worried about you." I pointed at her head. "How's the head wound, I saw the blood in the car… Nothing bad?"

"Just a scratch on my head. Already closed up."

"Wow, how long have I been out for?"

"Quite a while, actually. I visited you every day."

"Every _day_?!" I asked shocked. I quickly grabbed my phone from the table and checked the date. "It's Sunday?!" I yelled. "That means I've been out almost an entire week, what the hell!"

"Yeah, you have been out for a bit. I was really worried about you, but the doctors said you were going to be fine. They kept you down to make sure you hadn't suffered any permanent damage."

"But that Mitsuo guy said-..."

"Fascinating!" Livia said. I had completely forgotten she was in the room with us, as well. I turn to her, and she was looking right at me, but then turned to Lara. "Well, I am off again. Lara I will speak to you when we can have a private moment, okay?" She winked at her, which made Lara blush. Livia stepped out the room and left.

"Uhm, what did she mean?" I asked Lara.

"I don't know. Perhaps she'd like to talk to me in private." Lara shrugged. "She's a bit weird, isn't she?" I looked at her, puzzled.

"Yeah… I guess so. Anyway, no time for that. Did that Mitsuo guy visited you, as well?"

"Yes, he did. And he explained everything to me. Quite..uh...fascinating, isn't it? Not sure what to think about it."

"Tell me about it." I said, suddenly realising I was still only wearing a hospital gown. "Do you mind if I get dressed quickly?" I added.

"Of course, sweetie." Lara said as she gestured at my clothes. She sat down on the side of the bed.

"What are we going to do?" I asked as I was putting on my pants.

"Well, he did make a convincing point, don't you think?"

"About what?" I frowned as I put my shirt over my head.

"You know, about why _you _would be the person to get the stone. It makes sense, I guess." She said. I looked at her for a bit, baffled at what she had just said.

"Did you hit your head too hard? He's saying I have to get some stone because it's _probable_ I won't combust when I take it! The key word here being _probable!_" I yelled.

"Yeah, I mean, I get that. I'm just saying he makes sense."

"This is so fucking weird." I sat down beside Lara. "I mean, there's like a million questions I have about everything what had just happened and all you can say is '_he makes sense?' _What the hell, Lara?"

"Well, if you have so many questions, ask them, maybe I can answer some of them." Lara shrugged. I lifted up my hands, as to gesture I had no idea where to begin.

"First off, why have I been out an entire week? Jesus, that's long. This Mitsuo Mitani guy said I had no permanent injuries."

"Well, I guess the doctors wanted to make absolutely sure." Lara looked at me. "I'm just really glad you're okay, Sam." She once again smiled.

"I...I'm glad you're okay, too, Lara, but you seem to be acting awfully casual about all this." I gave her a confused look.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked. She looked genuinely surprised as to why she should be anything else _but _casual about this.

"I don't know!" I threw my arms in the air. "Fuck, okay, fine. What is our next step? I mean, we aren't going with these guys, right?"

"Why not?" Lara asked dead serious.

"Well, for starters, they shot at us."

"Mitsuo said that wasn't meant to happen."

"And you trust that guy? Really?"

"Look, Sam, I know it sounds dodgy, but I've been doing some research on what Mitsuo has told me, and it all adds up. I asked him what the terms were , you know, for if we would agree to come along. He said we'd have armed guards around us at all times. We are allowed to carry weapons ourselves. There would always be a scout team ahead of us. Plus, he agreed we could release the true story about Yamatai. Well, without the magic stuff revolving around it." Lara said, apparently trying her best to convince me to come along, _already_. I didn't know how to react, it was all just too much, and too sudden. There was so many information to process, so many weird things happening, so many unanswered questions, so many things that didn't add up. And Lara suddenly decided it was okay to go?

"I need to eat something." I decided.

"Okay." Lara got off from the bed. "Where do you want to go?"

"Can we just go home?" I said hopeful.

"Sure." Lara smiled. "Let's go." She was already making her way to the door.

"Wait." I said, as I quickly jumped off the bed, as well. "Is that okay? I mean, with Mitsuo and everything?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Lara asked as she held the door open for me.

"Because I was handcuffed to the bed not so long ago?" I said, almost annoyed. Lara didn't answer me. There was something off with Lara, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe my mind was still a bit off by the blow it got. I followed Lara outside towards the car. _My _car, that is. Since, you know, Lara her car was probably at the dumping ground by now. I was glad we decided to buy two of them, actually. It was around noon, so it was light outside. The sun was shining and it was actually quite a beautiful day.

We didn't speak during the way home. It wasn't a long drive, but it still felt out of place. Especially because of what happened. There was more to talk about than ever before in our lives, but it felt like there was no incentive to do so. The guards were still there, as if they had never left. I looked at the one near the gate, as it opened, and he once again nodded at me, like I had never left. Lara parked the car near the front door.

"What do you want to eat?" She asked as she got out of the car.

"I don't really care. Something that will fill my stomach, what do we have?" I asked as I followed her. This felt like the last thing we should have a conversation about.

"A lot. I went grocery shopping." She smiled at me as we walked inside, the large empty living room awaiting. "I actually made some sandwiches already. You wait on the couch, I'll bring them in a minute, okay?"

"Sure, I guess." I went to the living room, as Lara made a left for the kitchen. I sat down on the couch and sighed. As I was waiting for Lara I suddenly realised I just walked out of a hospital, where I had been kept a week under narcoses, without telling a single doctor or nurse. Dear God, everything was so hazy, so clouded. It felt like my mind had taken a blow, rather than me physically. Lara walked inside with a plate full of sandwiches and placed them on the coffee table in front of me.

"Thanks." I said and gratefully grabbed one.

"You okay?" Said Lara who sat next to me.

"Sure." I said with a mouthful. "As good as I can be in this situation." Lara smiled. "Hey, listen. Why did we leave the hospital all of a sudden? I've told no doctors or nurses. Maybe we should go back?"

"No, it's fine." Lara said as she made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "I already talked to a doctor who said if you woke up, then you're free to go."

"That's kind of weird, Lara." I said as a swallowed another bite. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, then, I guess." I didn't ask any further, I was just glad I was home and not in that hospital bed anymore. I guess I just had to accept some things didn't make sense at the moment. It was probably because my mind was fucked up. I didn't know what it was, but I was sure my brain wasn't running on full capacity. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Always, sweetie." She turned to me.

"What's up with you and that Livia girl?" I asked, slowly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you made out with her and all. And back in the hospital she said she'd speak to you in private. Did you see her during the time I was in the hospital?"

"Yes, I did." She said, completely neutral.

"Oh…" I looked away. _Fuck._

"Why, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"Yes, there is. Tell me."

"No, seriously." I faked a smile. "I was just hoping you'd tell me a bit more. You know, what was going on."

"Well…" She looked down at her feet. "She's kinda cute…" _Oh, God, please. _"I don't know, really." She blushed. I fought back my tears.

"So, what did you do with her? You know, the past week while I was out." I said, passive aggressively.

"Just hung out, really. I kind of like being around her." She said, timidly. _Oh, for the love of God, seriously? Lara actually turned out gay, but falls for another girl? Are you fucking serious?_

"Aww, that's so cute." I couldn't even pretend to be happy about it.

"Is that...uh… weird for you?" I saw Lara being distressed. Maybe I shouldn't be so selfish, and be supportive of my best friend. But, fuck me, that was hard.

"No! Of course not." I smiled and put an arm around her. "It really is cute. Do whatever you like Lara, you know I will never judge you for anything. I mean, she _is _kind of hot."

"It's not about… it's…" Lara stammered. Despite the situation, I laughed as she turned even more red. It filled my heart with joy with how cute she was. I really should be supportive of her. But could I really be around her when she's with Livia? Perhaps that was something for another time. For now, I was just happy she and I were both okay, and together again. Sort of.

"So, what about the Amazon? Are we really going?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I mean, it's… Yes, I think it would be the best." Lara said quickly, probably glad I changed it.

"Why?"

"Several reasons, really. I mean, Mitsuo agreed we could use your footage to publish a show of some sort. As long as it didn't contain any supernatural stuff, you know? You can be the famous filmmaker you always wanted to be. I mean, even without the Himiko part, Yamatai is still one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries of the century. And I can clear my family name, in the process."

"Being a famous filmmaker wouldn't help me if I die in the Amazon." I said, genuinely worried. I already knew we were going. If Lara had set her mind on something, that was it. It was going to happen, whether I like it or not.

"I told you, we are getting excellent protection. Not to mention that I am extremely curious about these stones and their powers. Look, Sam, I'd go alone if I could, honestly. But you need to come along, it really is worth a shot."

"What happens if they're wrong? What happens if Himiko didn't transfer any freaking DNA and I take the stone?" I asked, not accustomed to Lara being okay to put me in harms way.

"Mitsuo assured me that you would realise it before you would have to leave the place. If it's cool to the touch, you can safely take it. If it burns your hands, you have to leave it, and we have to come up with a different plan."

"Fine. I guess we are going to the Amazon." I said, to Lara her delight. I'd have put up more of a fight if I wasn't so tired and beat. I just wanted to shower and go to bed. "But you're staying by my side all the way, you have to promise."

"Of course, I promise." Lara smiled.

I was laying in bath, a very warm bath, with bubbles. I had spent the rest of the day eating and showering, and it was now evening. Lara told me Mitsuo would come by on Tuesday to discuss our plan, what we would do, and how. I had avoided Lara for the rest of the day. I wanted to think about what she had said about Livia. Honestly, it ate at me. I didn't deny to myself any longer that I loved Lara in a romantic way. I would've never dreamed about Lara being gay too, let alone feel the same way about me. But being gay, yet falling for another girl? Fuck, that's cruel. Though, I decided not to act on it. If she was happy this way, then fine, I'd support her the way I could. Though, the thing I was worried about most was that if Lara would actually get involved with Livia, I would have to move out. At some point Livia would move in, and it wouldn't possible for me to be here any longer. What on earth would I do without Lara? Where would I go? Live by myself? And then what? Jesus Christ, it was scary how important Lara was to me. Not only do I love her with all my heart, I depend on her too. As in, my life depends on hers. There is absolutely nothing worth living for if she isn't around. Perhaps I should do something about Livia and her? I mean, my feelings aside, she does kind of look like a bitch. Maybe I could convince Lara to see her the same way. Or was that a bad thing to do? God, I didn't know anymore. I just wanted Lara to myself. I tried to push back some tears, and decided to think about something else. Life doesn't always follow the path you'd like it to follow. I spend another half hour in the bathtub, trying to think about anything _but _Lara. However, since my life pretty much revolved around Lara, that was harder than I hoped it would be.

Finally, I opened the bathtub drain and the water started to run out. Slowly I watched the water go through the drain, together with my tears.


	9. Where are you?

"Aren't you hungry?" I said looking at Lara. She was sitting across from me at the table, sporting her usual attire. It was Monday morning and we were having breakfast. Well, _I_ was having breakfast, Lara hadn't touched any food.

"Not really." She smiled. "I'll eat something later, I don't feel so well."

"So? You should still eat. I feel like someone replaced my brain with a strawberry, and I'm still eating." I scoffed. Lara laughed, but didn't reply, and just sat there. She had already prepared breakfast before I came downstairs. I woke up feeling even woozier than I did when I went to sleep. It felt like everything was a blur. It was as if everything in the world continued on with whatever it was doing, and I was stuck somewhere in another dimension. I couldn't even remember getting dressed this morning, and that was not more than 10 minutes ago.

"Well." Lara said. "You don't really look fine. Is something wrong? Or perhaps bothering you?"

"Is… Is something bothering me?" I asked, nearly offended that she had the audacity to even ask that question. "Well, let's see. Just last week we were involved in a car crash because several lunatics decided it was a good idea to shoot at us. This resulted in us having to go to the hospital, where this Mitsuo figure said I was the only person who can recover a magic stone which could, pretty much, come straight from a b-rated science fiction movie. Afterwards, while you miraculously recovered within a day without any noticeable wounds, _I_ was completely out for a week, God knows why. During that period, by the way, I swear there were at least a dozen times, in between the gazillion dreams and nightmares I had, where several people were standing over me, discussing something extremely urgent, judging by the way they talked. Then I wake up, feeling as if someone had been prodding my brain for weeks, and you act as if nothing is up! 'Let's go with the people who shot at us.' You casually say, because why the fuck not, right? Afterwards, we decide, you know what? Let's just leave the hospital straight away after waking up, without telling any nurse or doctor, because that is the brightest thing we can do, right? And you ask what's bothering me?" I felt my cheeks getting red while I was ranting.

"Sam, you had a blow to the head, perhaps tha-..."

"Than why am I not in the hospital?!" I yelled. "Everything is so fucking out of place, Lara. _Everything._ I don't even fucking know what's going on. It's so vague."

"I… I-I...What do you want me to say, Sam?" Lara shifted on her chair, uneasily.

"And then there's that Livia girl. Who the hell is that? Why is she here in London?" I said, ignoring Lara. "She suddenly came in my room, waited until you came in and then said you'd talk to her in private, and then left. Why the f...What the fuck is that about?!" I threw my hands in the air.

"Why do you care so much? We're just hanging out." Lara asked as she crossed her arms.

"It's...I don't know. It's just weird, okay?" I stammered. "I mean, _she _is weird. Not… you. Not that I have a reason to believe you're weird for… you know. Holy shit, never mind, I can't even talk anymore." I put my head on the table, defeated.

"It's okay, Sam. Just tell me what you think, you can tell me anything, you know that." Lara tried to sooth me by touching my arm.

"Okay, Lara." I said a little bit too aggressively, as I lifted my head up again. "Do you like Livia, as in _like _like her? I mean, she-...I got to be honest with you, she seems off to me. She seems weird, and kind of mean. She's-..."

"Yes."

"...Yes, what? She is weird? Then why hang ou-..."

"Yes, I like her." Lara said. She looked afraid.

"Oh…" Is all I could muster. My breathing increased and I felt the goosebumps form on my arms. I really didn't know what to say. I mean, it was kind of obvious that she did, but I still didn't quite believe up until now.

"Is that bad?" She pouted just a little bit. She looked genuinely afraid and sad. Oh my God, why is she so super adorable? I felt like I should hit myself for being so selfish.

"No, Lara… No. No, of course it's not." I used all my remaining energy to muster up a smile for her.

"It's nothing serious, by the way." Lara quickly said. "I mean, we're hanging out and that's it, so, you know."

"It's fine, honey. Don't worry about it." I said in the most friendly way I could. "Look, I need to… I want to go for a walk, is that okay? I want to go outside for a bit, maybe it'll help calm my mind down."

"Sure, sweetie." Lara suddenly smiled, as if she forgot we even had an intense conversation about 3.5 milliseconds ago. "I'll clean up."

The birds outside were singing, but the sound was dulled out. The sun was shining, but it still felt dark. _Everything _was dulled out. My vision, my hearing, the way I felt, everything was hazy. My muscles ached, in a weird way. They were tired, and felt heavy. Even my breathing was off, I could distinctly hear myself breathing in a non consistent pattern. For a moment, while I was walking outside, I convinced myself I was dreaming. However, when I could feel me pinching myself, I knew that wasn't true. This wasn't a dream. This was reality. I could feel everything, albeit dulled out. A couple walked past me. They were laughing and talking, but I couldn't make out about what. Nor did I really care. I felt my eyelids starting to get heavy again. Maybe I could sit down somewhere? Where was I, anyway? When I looked around, I noticed a bench under a tree in the grassfield I was walking by. I dragged myself to it and plopped down. I really needed to gather my thoughts and make some sense out of this, because this is not good. There was just too much going on in my head.

I sat down on the bench and let my head hang over the back. I looked up at the tree I was under and could vaguely make out some birds in a nest. The birds were still singing, without a worry in the world. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on just the birds chirping. I loved listening to birds. It was super cliché, but oh-so-peaceful. Closing my eyes helped. It closed off one stream of information my brain wasn't able to handle. Now I could focus on just the sound and the small breeze that touched my face and bare arms. It was a cool feeling in the warm sun. Suddenly that breeze changed into a hand that slightly stroked my arms. I was startled at first, but then realised it was Lara, I was certain of it. I didn't even need to open my eyes for it. I felt it by the way she touched me. I was so happy that she did. She kept stroking my bare arm, and she started using her hand palm, too. Her touch felt absolutely divine. It felt like I had needed her touch for years, and now, finally, I could experience it. Her hand went all the way up to my shoulder, and then back to my hand. It went on for a while, and I didn't move at all. I just enjoyed the moment, I enjoyed her touch, and tried to think of nothing else. There was no fear. It was as if she was stroking all my worries away, so I didn't have anymore worrying to do. It was as if she was telling me she would never leave my side, so I wouldn't have to worry that she might. Then, slowly, I felt her lips touch my skin as she kissed my cheek. I felt my entire body fill up with warmth. My underbelly tingled and I let out an obvious sigh. We've kissed each other on the cheeks before, but this was different. This was sensual. My breathing increased as I felt her lips stroke my cheek. Her hand moved from my arm and she placed it under my top. My stomach tightened as she used her fingernails to slowly stroke it and I felt my cheeks get flustered. I let out a moan when her mouth moved to my earlobe and bit it ever so slightly. She then placed her mouth right next to my ear.

"Do you want me to touch you?" She whispered erotic, in her beautiful accent. The warm air coming from her mouth into my ear send a shiver down my entire body.

"Yes." I moaned as if I never wanted anything more than this to happen right here and now. I wanted her to touch me everywhere. I wanted her to do me. To ravage me, right there and then.

"Say it." She whispered before she sucked on my earlobe.

"Oh my God, Lara… Y-yes, please. Please touch me." I groaned. I felt her hand move over my ribs, as she used her other hand to place her fingers just under my belt, touching the fabric of my underwear. I just let it come over me. I wanted this. I _needed _this. Her sucking on my earlobe, and her hands on my body made me more aroused than I had ever been in my life. "Lara, I want you so bad." I moaned.

"Are you okay, dear?" I quickly opened my eyes because that was not Lara's voice. I looked to my right and saw an elderly man looking at me. He looked at me as if he had seen a ghost, while he quietly held his lunch bag in front of him. I wanted to give Lara a slap as to why on fucking earth she would do this with someone right next to us, but she wasn't there. It was just me, she was nowhere to be seen. I looked down and realised I had my own hands on my body. One inside my pants, and with the other one I was groping my own breast.

"Jesus fucking Ch-... Oh my fucking God, I am so s-..." I stammered in horror as I violently removed my hands from my body which nearly made me fell off the bench. "Sir, I...Jesus, I truly am so sorry." I kept apologizing. "I'm… I'm sick… or something." I stood up from the bench. "Please, don't call the police." I said as I quickly ran away. I ran and ran, and I kept running. I didn't even know where to. I just had to get out of there. What just happened? How is that even possible? What was happening to me? Never in my life have I experienced something so bizarre. And that's coming from _me. _It felt so real. The realization that something was really wrong with me send a shiver down my spine as I kept running.

Apparently, at some point, I was running in the right direction, because I suddenly recognized the street the Manor was on. I looked around me surprised, how the hell did I get here so fast? I slowed down to a walking pace and looked at the guard next to the gate. He frowned at me as I stopped walking and looked at him as if I was completely in awe to find him there.

"Ma'am?" The guard said as he closed the gate behind me. "Is everything okay?"

"Y-yes." I said as I quickly walked through. I thought back to a few minutes ago to try and remember how I even got here, but it was as if my brain just denied that information. As if it was tired of trying to make sense of the situation; it didn't make sense, anyway. I think my brain had given up at that point. I started to feel dizzy, too. Luckily, I managed to make my way inside without falling over. I wanted to look for Lara, but decided against it and just made my way to my bedroom. I just wanted to sleep. It was as if the world was running at 200% and my brain didn't know what to do anymore.

"Hey." Lara startled me as she caught up to me just before I entered my room. "I made you some food."

"Jesus, Lara. Sneaking much?" I turned around to face her. She was smiling happily. "I just ate like two hours ago. I'm not really hungry."

"Well, you should really eat. " She "said, completely ignoring my near heart attack.

"But I'm not hungry."

"Please? I made it for you." Lara tilted her head.

"Geez, fine. I'll just take a quick nap and I'll have something to eat after, okay?" I said annoyed.

"I'll bring it to your room then." Lara said, still smiling. "Did you have a nice walk?"

"Yeah... " I thought back about my… vision, I guess you could call it, and immediately got embarrassed again. "Just fine. I was actually on my way to bed, I'm really tired." I turned around and went in. Immediately I saw my bag, and my backpack, obviously packed and ready to go.

"I packed your bags for you." Lara said a little too enthusiastic as she was standing in my door opening.

"W-what.. for?" I said without turning around.

"You know, for the Amazon." She stepped inside and walked towards the bag placed on my bed. "I've packed all the essentials, really. In the travel bag there's all the needed clothes." She then grabbed the backpack. "And in here is the stuff you need easy access to, like sunscreen, sunglasses and stuff like that."

"What?" Was, again, all I could say.

"What do you mean _what_?" Lara looked genuinely surprised, as if it was completely normal she made the decision to go to the Amazon for both of us.

"Since when are we going to the Amazon?" I slowly walked inside. I caught myself being weary for Lara, like I had to be careful around here now.

"What do you mean? We talked about it last night, right? You agreed on going, since it was the best thing to do and everything?" Lara tilted her head.

"I-I...I honestly don't remember." I really didn't remember. The last few days were a haze, I couldn't even remember what happened ten minutes ago. I sat down on the bed staring at the wall. "Wait, so when? When are we going?" I asked, surprising myself that I just sort of agreed.

"Tomorrow." Lara said, as she walked out. "Take your nap, I'll wake you in an hour. Then you can eat something" She said standing in the door opening. Then she left and closed the door behind her. I took a few moments to ponder over what just happened, though I soon realised my mind no longer tried to make sense of anything that was happening. I fell back on my bed, and fell asleep soon after.

"_You need help, Sam. Okay? Why don't you just understand that?!" Lara yelled from across the kitchen table._

"_Get help for what?!" I yelled, doing my best to top her decibel output. "There's nothing wrong with me!"_

"_Look, Sam." Lara said, a lot more calmly. "I am not your enemy, alright? I am your friend, and I'm just looking out for you." She walked around the kitchen table towards me. "Seriously, please get some help." She wanted to hug me, but I turned away.  
_"_I never asked for your help. I don't need it!" I started walking out, trying to ignore further pleading from Lara. However, just before I could leave the kitchen area I suddenly felt all the blood drain from my head. Everything started spinning around me and I almost tumbled over. I quickly turned around, making eye contact with Lara. Before another second passed, Lara knew exactly what was going on. She leaped forward without a single moment of hesitation. Her reflexes were comparable to a freaking jaguar or something. The last thing I saw before falling over was Lara stretching out her arms. Somehow she succeeded, because just before I hit the floor her arms grabbed me and put me on the kitchen floor softly. Only then did I notice I was hyperventilating. I looked at Lara who sitting besides me on her knees._

"_Easy, Sam." She said softly. "It's okay, it'll pass." She gently stroked my cheek. "It's just another panic attack, it'll go away." She reached down and hugged me. It helped. It helped a lot._

"_Your hugs… They always help…" I said hoarsely. _

"_Then please know you can always hug me." She whispered in my ear just before I passed out._

I violently sat up straight in my bed, my eyes wide open and with a shiver down my spine. It was as if my mind had finally reset itself. All the haziness had gone away and I could think clearly. My heart was beating in my throat. It was as if I had just awoken from a nightmare. But I didn't have a nightmare. Not that I could recall anyway. I quickly looked for my phone, which I found on my nightstand. 3 AM. Next to the phone was the food Lara had prepared me, a salad with some fruit. There was a note next to it and I picked it up. _Eat up! xoxo_, it read. My heart started beating even faster, as I held the note in my hand. I quickly got up. Realising I still had all my clothes on, I ran out my room. Lara her room was two doors to the right. I ran up to it and started knocking violently.

"Lara!" I yelled as I kept knocking. When there was no answer, I yelled for her a couple more times. I opened the door and stepped inside her room. Lara wasn't there. I almost started hyperventilating when I realised her room looked untouched for days.

"I tried waking you." Lara said, as she was suddenly standing behind me in the door opening. Her sudden presence made my neck hairs stand up straight.

"Fuck, Lara." I said harshly as I turned around. I could only see the outline of her body in the moonlight which was shining through the windows, as I hadn't bothered turning on the light. It gave her an eerily vibe. I walked up to her and held the note in front of her. "xoxo?" I asked looking her directly in her eyes.

"What?"

"You _never _write xoxo. That's something _I _do, not you!" I threw the note at her, but it fluttered to the side.

"I don't know know what you're talking about, Sam."

"Lara, who wrote that note?" I squinted my eyes.

"I did." She was getting visibly nervous.

"Fuck you. Give me a hug."

"W-what? Sam, what's wrong with you?"

"Give. Me. A. Fucking. Hug." I opened my arms wide. Lara just stood there, still in the door opening. Her eyes met mine, probably trying to make sense of what was happening. "C'mon, do you remember what you said during that panic attack I had a few months back?"

"I-I...I" Lara stuttered.

"That I could _always _hug you!" My yelling was getting louder and louder. "And one of the things I love about you is that _always _keep your word. So, here!" I opened my arms even wider. "Hug me! NOW!" There was now fear in Lara her eyes. She didn't know how to react to this.

"I-I can't." She finally said, looking down at the floor.

"You couldn't hug me in the hospital. You can't hug me now. Why is that?" I asked as I lowered my arms.

"My ribs…And-"

"The truth! Why can't you hug me?!" I took a step closer to her. Suddenly, Lara relaxed and her eyes calmed down. As if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"Okay." She said softly.

"Okay, what?"

"The hospital."

"What about it?" I asked.

"You should go there."

"What am I going to find there?" I asked slowly.

"The truth." Lara said determined. I started to feel the panic getting the upper hand again.

"Why would I find out the truth in the hospital? Can you not tell me what's going on?"

"You wouldn't believe me. I need to show you." Lara said. "Let's go." She turned around and walked away.

"You'll have to drive fast." Lara said as she got stepped in on the passengers side. It was completely dark outside, but since it was summer, it wasn't cold.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I sat behind the wheel. The sound of the engine coming to life somehow made me more nervous.

"They'll be following you."

"They being Mitsuo's men?" I asked anxiously.

"Yes." Lara said, as if it was nothing. I suddenly got a horrible flashback to our car crash. I turned left on the dark empty road and immediately noticed the Range Rover behind us. _Shit_, I thought to myself. "If they realise you're going to the hospital, they'll try and stop you." Lara said nonchalantly. It was scary at how content Lara was with the situation. I felt like I was in a movie or something. It was hard to pinpoint what exactly was wrong with Lara. All I knew was that, normally, she was a lot more.. lively. I looked at the road in front of us, which was only slightly illuminated by the LED headlights of the car.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because they don't want you to find out the truth." She looked in the rear view mirror, and I copied her. "Seriously, step on it." She said. I put my foot on the pedal and immediately released it again as the car propelled forward so fast it startled me. I sometimes forgot how powerful this car was. Adjusting to the power of the engine, I stepped on it again, this time with a little bit more care, and sped off. The fact that the Range Rover's headlights continued to shine brightly in my rear view mirror confirmed that they were indeed following. The suburban houses whizzed by on the left and right. It was a quiet neighbourhood and I almost felt bad by roaring by so quickly and loudly. Almost, not entirely, because I noticed the Range Rover behind us was getting closer. Apparently, they figured out I wasn't just driving around in the middle of the night. I took a sharp, yet careful, left turn and was amazed by how smoothly the car handled it. I never drove fast or aggressively. I wouldn't dare, I wasn't that good of a driver. I took a right turn, this time shaper and faster, and stepped on the gas the moment I came out of the corner. Then I did the same with another left turn, and another right turn. I was getting the hang of it, and managed to make turns quicker and quicker. Though, even after 5 minutes of driving through the streets, a quick glance in the rear view mirror proved the Range Rover was still behind us.

"Take the freeway." Lara said, still staring in front of her, like we _weren't _being chased. Again. "You can lose them there. A jeep doesn't go as fast as this car." She continued. I got nervous when I thought about the speeds I'd have to go to lose them. Still, if I wanted to reach the hospital without them on our tail, I'd have to go for it. Luckily, I still knew where I was, so I turned left making my way towards the freeway.

It didn't take long to get to there. There were only a handful of other motorists on the road. I floored it and the front of the car lifted up slightly as we sped forward. Within seconds I was reaching speeds I had never before in my life, whilst behind the wheel. We flew by the other cars on the road. With my sweaty hands I gripped the leather wheel as tight as I could, as I felt my heart beating in my throat. Adrenaline was soaring through my veins. The wind roared past the car almost as loud as the engine itself. The Range Rover did its best to keep up, but was no match for the Audi RS6. With a couple of minutes of driving at death defying speeds, I managed to lose them as I saw their headlights getting dimmer in the rear view mirror. When I no longer saw them behind us, I hastily took the first exit of the freeway and started making my way back to the hospital, this time avoiding the freeway.

"Holy hell." I said out of breath as I felt my heart calm down again. "That was… insane."

"Good job." Lara said as she smiled at me.

"Damn, Lara, how can you be so indifferent about all this?" I asked as I waited in front of a traffic light. "I must have gone a thousand miles an hour."

"It's nothing." She said. She turned her head to look out the window.

"What's wrong?" I asked worried.

"Let's just get to the hospital. Also, light's green." She said as she pointed towards the traffic light. I stepped on the gas again. When the adrenaline died down, I again realised how odd the situation was. How Lara was just pointing us to the hospital, not willing to just tell me what's going on. And then there was that undeniable feeling in my gut that something was wrong with Lara. That Lara wasn't… herself. It was so odd. I had hoped that, now that my haziness was gone, I'd be able to make sense of the situation, but everything had become even weirder because of it. My mind was questioning _everything, _but somehow I still just went with it. Here I was, sitting in the car in the middle of the night, going to the hospital for God knows why, after I just lost some lunatics who shot at us just last week. I sighed. I decided to just go to the hospital, find out what Lara was talking about and then go to sleep. Fuck the Amazon, I wasn't going to the Amazon. At least, not until I fully understood what was going on. I could never go there without the full support of Lara.

I noticed there were only a few other cars parked, as I pulled in the parking lot of the hospital. I parked close to the only lamppost that illuminated the lot, so I wouldn't drive into any other car. I turned off the engine and turned to Lara.

"So." I said. "Here we are. What are we doing here?" Lara just looked at me with a sad expression on her face, but didn't answer. "Lara… Please, tell me, what are we doing here?"

"I think you know what we're doing here." She said. The interior lights of the car dimmed, and now her face was only visible because the moon was still shining bright tonight.

"No, I don't." I gave her a look. "Do we go inside?" Lara looked at me for a few more seconds, and then stepped outside. I promptly followed her towards the entrance. "Wait." I said as I caught up. "Seriously, Lara, you're being so weird and mysterious. What's going on?" She didn't answer. I felt goosebumps form on my skin as the situation got increasingly weird. Next to that, I still had that feeling in my gut that something was horribly wrong. The automatic doors opened and we stepped inside. Lara walked forward, straight past the woman at the reception desk, without saying a thing, and I followed her. There's always a distinct smell in the hospital that you would recognize everywhere. The smell of sickness and death. It always weirded me out. I looked down at the synthetic floor as I listened to my shoes tapping on them. When I looked up again, Lara was gone. I stopped and looked around me, frowning. Now I realised how empty the hospital looked. The lights, those weird ones they have at the hospital, shined throughout the entire empty hallway. It was quiet too, like dead quiet.

"L-Lara…?" I whispered. I slowly continued my walk as I kept looking around me. How the hell did she do that? I saw a right turn about 50 feet down the hallway. I figured she might have increased her pace and just made a turn there. I quickly ran to it, and made the turn. Suddenly I was in a waiting area with about 20 chairs, all of them empty. To the left was another woman behind a counter.

"Can I help you?" The woman behind the counter said. She was an older lady.

"Uh… I was just looking for my friend actually. I lost her."

"Oh, dear." The woman said. "What's her name?"

"Lara Croft." I said, and the woman immediately began typing away on her computer. "But that's beside the point, she's not hospitalized. We were just visiting and-..."  
"Sorry, dear, there's no record of any Lara Croft here." She said.

"No, I know. I said we were just visiting and-...wait, what? No record? She was in here just last week." The woman suddenly had my full attention.

"No, she really wasn't. Or else it'd come up in the system, dear."

"W-what…? No, seriously, she was here just last week. Were you on shift last week? There was a car crash on the A13 outbound of London? I was involved too, my name is Samantha Nishimaru. In the car with me was Lara Croft, and she was taken care off here, as well."

"Look." The woman said as she turned her monitor towards me. I looked at her screen and saw Lara's name in the search field. Below, it said _no results. _She turned the monitor away again. "Honestly, if she was in here, I'd be able to find her name. We are required by law to keep the names of any person who comes in here, needing treatment." The woman looked at me concerned.

"It's… That's just not possible." I said, as I started to feel lightheaded. "You made a mistake. Honestly, she was here, I can guarantee you."

"Dear, she wasn't here, I can s-..."

"No!" I yelled. "You're wrong! She _was _here, there's no question about it! You just forgot to fill in her name or something!"

"Okay, okay." The woman said as she waved with her hand up and down, signaling for me to calm down. "Let me call up the doctor who was on shift during that accident, and he can tell you whether or not he saw another girl coming in. Is that okay?"

"Fine, do that." I said as I took a seat on one of the empty chairs. The woman picked up her phone. I couldn't hear what she was saying, I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on. How on Earth was this possible? The feeling in my gut was getting increasingly present. I felt a drop of sweat form on my forehead. I waited for a couple of minutes when a doctor came walking in. He was a young doctor, probably in his early 30's. He was tall and had dark short hair. He was quite handsome.

"Miss Nishimura?" He asked as he reached out his hand. I nodded, got up and shook his hand. "I'm Dr. Clarkson. I was the one who treated you. Sarah here said you had some questions?"

"Lara Croft." I said, getting straight to the point. "She was with me, right? I mean, I wasn't the only girl that came in after that crash."

"Actually, you were. You were the only survivor, and you made it out pretty good, all things considered."

"You're wrong. Lara was with me!" I was getting increasingly annoyed. The doctor gave me a look.

"Listen." He quickly glanced at Sarah behind the counter. "Perhaps we should discuss some things in my office. Will you come with me, please.?"

"Fine."

"Follow me then." Clarkson said. I followed him. "How're you feeling after the crash?" He asked.

"Fucking weirded out." I said without looking at him.

"I'm sorry?" He said. "What do you mean?"

"Too long of a story. I just want to find out what happened to my friend."

"If you feeling anything out of the ordinary, you should tell me." Clarkson said as he held the door open to his office. I stepped inside. It was quite a simple office. A bookcase to the left, his desk in front of me. On the right wall there were a few pictures, presumably of his family.

"I'll be fine." I said.

"Please." He said as he pointed towards the chair in front of his desk. "Take a seat." He took seat behind his desk himself. "Would you like to drink anything?"

"Please, just get on with it." I snarled at him.

"Fine, fine. You know, I have to say the whole procedure was a bit weird for me. When you came in, I mean."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, when you came in you had only suffered a blow to the head. Besides the several bruises and scratches, that is. We checked, and you only had a minor concussion, which meant you could go home the next day, after a night of observation."

"But I was here for a week?" I frowned.

"Exactly. When I came to check up on you, there were several men standing in your room. They were very persistent about keeping you here for longer."  
"And you just let them?"

"They said you had no place to go, and no family to go to. They said they were looking for a place for you, and they'd only need a week. So, I told the nurses that you'd be here for a week, for observation. Thought I'd go a good deed. Only, those guys kept coming over, every single day. They closed the blinds so we couldn't see what they were doing in there. Whenever I wanted to walk in your room, there was this guy stopping me. Saying you guys were having a personal conversation or something."

"Mitsuo." I whispered.

"What?" Clarkson looked at me weird.

"Nothing. Continue, please."

"Well, that was it, really. It was just a strange ordeal. And when the week was over, you were suddenly gone. I figured you guys had find a place for you to stay." He leaned back in his chair. Nothing was making sense anymore. What did these guys do to me an entire week long? I shivered at the thought. I remembered several times during the time I was out, I could hear people standing over me, but no way I could hear what they were talking about.

"Okay, I'll make sense of this later. Now, about Lara. You have to tell me what happened to her." I said. A sad expression came over his face. An expression that changed to surprised when someone else stepped in his office.

"What are y-..."

"Shut the fuck up." The person said behind me. I recognized that accent from anywhere. I quickly turned around. It was Livia. She was wearing jean shorts, a white tee and, in absolute contrast, large boots. I looked at her dumbfounded. What the hell was she doing here? Was she following me? I was about to get annoyed at her when she pulled a gun from her belt and pointed it at the doctor. There was an attachment on the barrel, which was probably a silencer.

"W-w-wow. What are you doing?!" He put his hands in front of him, as if that would stop a bullet. I looked at Livia again. The adrenaline was going through my veins with a hundred miles per hour again. She wasn't really going to do anything, right? Just threaten him? But why would she threaten him? What the hell is going on?

"Told you not to say anything." Livia said determined. Then she pulled the trigger and the bullet penetrated the forehead of the doctor. He made a sound as the light when out of his eyes, and his body collapsed backwards into his chair. It was absolutely surreal. This man, who has had years and years of medical training, a life, a family and many more years left in him about 30 seconds ago, was ended abruptly. His entire life taken away by pulling a single trigger. I wanted to yell but no sound came out my throat. Livia pointed the gun at me.

"P-pl… please don't kill me." I begged.

"Stand up." She said. I quickly did exactly that. There was a huge grin on her face, like she was getting off on the situation. She slowly walked towards me, with the gun still pointed at me.

"Sam, Sam, Sam…" She said as she slowly shook her head. She was _definitely _getting off on the situation. I felt the cold metal press against my forehead as put the gun to my head. My adrenaline glands were working overtime.

"Please, Livia, don't shoot me, please." A tear ran over my face.

"You know." She said as she reached out and stroked my face with her free hand. "You're really pretty." Her grin only seemed to get wider by the second. She moved the gun to my right temple and leaned in to kiss me on the lips. I immediately pulled back in horror, which put an annoyed expression on her face. "Look at him." She gestured towards the dead doctor.

"No… I don't wa-..." I sobbed.

"LOOK at him!" She screeched. I turned away, crying, facing the doctor. She stood behind me. "Do you want your brains splattered over the wall just like his?"

"N-no…"

"Good." She said as she turned me around again. "Then kiss me." Her grin had resurfaced. She then leaned in for a kiss and I just closed my eyes. When I didn't open my mouth she pressed the barrel harder in my temple. Her tongue slid in my mouth. I felt she was a violent kisser as her tongue wrestled mine. Tears were running down my face, still. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she pulled back.

"You're fucking insane, you lunatic." I wiped my mouth in disgust. She could only grin back.

"You know, if we had a little more time, I'd love to do some things to you." She winked at me. "Unfortunately, we don't." She said, suddenly dead serious. She pulled out a syringe from her left boot. Before I realised what she was going, she had already stuck it in my arm. I looked at her frightened.

"What the hell is that?!"

"Don't worry." She said as she casually threw the syringe away. "It'll just make you sleep." Within seconds I felt my knees get weak, and I fell to the ground on my knees and hands. There was a dulled out sound in my ears as I felt myself fall over. Livia stood above, holding a phone to her ear. "Let's get going." She said.

Finally, I closed my eyes.


End file.
